Distortion
by Kakashihasnicearms
Summary: What if Minato and Kushina had two children? What if one of them was Itachi's age and just as skilled? How would it affect the one born under his father's shadow and one under the Kyuubi's shadow? Read to find out.
1. Kyuubi

Summary: What if Minato and Kushina had two children? What if one of them was Itachi's age and just as skilled? How would it affect the one born under his father's shadow and one under the Kyuubi's shadow? Read to find out.

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><p><em>Last page.<em> Kazuki smiled as he put his name—'kazu' for 'harmony' and 'ki' for 'hope'— on the paper and began the last assignment for his homework. The questions weren't hard considering his father, Namikaze Minato, had taught him shinobi fundamentals when he was younger. Since Minato was extremely busy as the Hokage, he couldn't really teach Kazuki. Kazuki honestly didn't need much help; the textbook was enough.

Last week, the teacher had Kazuki and Itachi stay after class. The two exchanged looks and listened to the teacher, 'Your fathers want you two to graduate early. You two are perhaps my best students and I believe you two could go far in this world with skills like yours. Even though you don't have much say in what the Hokage and Uchiha patriarch says, I do have a say. Do you two want to graduate together?'

The two nodded. The teacher nodded. 'I'll tell them that you two are skilled enough.'

Kazuki finished his homework and got up from his desk. He walked through the elegant hallways of his home and as he was reaching into the fridge to heat up fried rice his mother had left him, a wave of ominous chakra surged through the house from the village.

Kazuki was frozen for a moment before he began to calm himself and think rationally. He trusted his father to protect his mother as she gave birth tonight to his younger brother, but he couldn't help but worry. He ran to his room, slipped on a jacket, grabbed kunai and some paper with seals written on them, only needing chakra to activate them. As he burst out of the house, he saw orange flames dancing in the village.

Memories of the Third Shinobi World War, in which he had fought in alongside Itachi, flooded back. Even though two years had passed, Kazuki sometimes got nightmares, something he hid extremely well from his overprotective mother. He shook his head and raced towards the safe house his father had shown him once. Jumping on top of rooftops, he managed to get there only to find it had been obliterated; wood was everywhere. Kazuki noticed how one had blood on it and tried not to think about it hitting his father or mother.

When he finally found his parents, they were arguing and then when the Kyuubi's size had decreased by half, in a split second, his parents were impaled the Kyuubi. They had obviously stepped in to protect the crying baby, one who had Minato's hair color. Kazuki's red hair stood out even in the faint moonlight as he began to tear out seals from his pocket and infusing them with chakra and with shaking hands and tears rolling down his cheeks applied them to the seal his mother had put up. It didn't work; her seal was much too powerful. Denial and horror raced through his mind as he threw kunai at his mother's seal. Nothing seemed to work as blood rushed out of his parent's bodies and tears out of his mother's eyes.

_This can't be happening!_

Kushina began to give her last words to the baby. She looked up, sensing chakra a few feet away outside the barrier.

"Kaa-san…Tou-san…what…?" Kazuki couldn't find any words.

"Kazuki, your mother and I love you. Protect Naruto," Minato smiled despite blood rimming his lips. His mother looked powerless to stop it, even though she had been the one who sometimes scared him half to death when he had gotten home late one night, training with Itachi, and sometimes beat his father for coming home late from seemingly endless amounts of paperwork, but sometimes held him gently and often taught him fuuinjutsu when his father couldn't and taught him about the Uzumaki culture, something he 'should cherish because his red hair is precious; the Uzumaki were ancient clans like the Uchiha and Senju'. At least, that's what she'd said.

And Kazuki would never hear their voices, welcoming him home, never to hear them coaching him in fuuinjutsu and other jutsu practice. Never to celebrate another birthday, never to see him graduate from the Academy.

"Hakke Fuuin!" Minato said and Kazuki heard himself cry out in vain as a bright light shone and then his parents were on the floor, the baby was screaming, and the Kyuubi was gone. Kazuki ran to his parents' side and found his father dead but his mother was still alive. She reached up to stroke his face and gave a smile.

"Kazuki, his name is Naruto, from Jiraiya's book. I'm sorry I can't be there for either of you, but I love you both," Kushina said as the air rushed out of her lungs and her hand fell limp beside her long red hair, matching the wound on her stomach that killed her. Kazuki shook and found himself crying. Soon, screaming reached his ears and he recognized the voice as his own. He felt himself picked up by someone and saw that he was looking into the eyes of Hatake Kakashi.

"What happened?" Kakashi asked, the fourteen year old looking weary and Kazuki blinked. His surroundings began to get clearer and he found himself in the hospital.

"How long have I been here?" Kazuki asked, his voice hoarse.

"Maybe an hour. What happened to Minato-sensei and Kushina-san? And what about Naruto?" Kakashi asked.

"They're dead," Kazuki stated simply, the words seemingly sinking in. Kakashi stiffened and visibly paled. As Kakashi was about to ask the six year old more questions, denial in his eyes and fear rushing through his veins. The door slid open, a rather loud sound in the exceedingly quiet room, revealing the Sandaime Hokage. The Hokage sat down and looked at the two carefully. Kakashi looked simply overwhelmed and Kazuki looked scared, truly scared. Hiruzen could only tell from the way his hands shook and how he bit his lip until the faint gleam of blood ran across the thin line between the child's lips. His face was emotionless, but his eyes shone with his father's blue color and anger and worry.

"In order to protect Naruto, you two must not approach him. This is a mission for the two of you. The consequences will be severe," Hiruzen said, his each word ringing in Kazuki's ears.

"Hokage-sama, please—" Kakashi started.

"This is a mission that must be followed no matter what. Minato made a lot of enemies in the Third Shinobi World War. Because of this, word can't get out that Minato had a second child, especially one that is the jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi. Kazuki, as of tonight, you are a Genin of Konoha on a team with Uchiha Itachi and Kimura Kimiko," Hiruzen tried to rush out, not wanting to overwhelm the child.

"Thank you, Hokage-sama," Kazuki said.

Hiruzen took a deep breath and stood. His footsteps quietly tapped on the floor until they were no longer heard after he closed the door with a swift motion. Silence stretched between the two and Kazuki closed his hands trying to stop the shaking.

"I'm going to see if we can see him for the last time," Kakashi whispered.

"You didn't hear Hokage-sama? We've got to stay away from Naruto," Kazuki pointed out. Kakashi flinched and then ran out. Kazuki looked at the sheets and gripped them hard. His forehead wrinkled with frustration and anger as he threw the sheets off in an agile movement. He got off the bed and slipped on his shoes. As he jumped out the window to get to his parent's home, he wondered why this had to happen. Why did the Kyuubi attack the village? Why was his parent's sacrifice the only way?

Kazuki went past the gate, which had a seal to prevent any unwanted visitors who didn't know how to get in, and went into the house. He ran into his room and curled up under the blankets. He felt cold even though his mother had replaced the sheets to be the warm ones because it was the beginning of October; the temperature was dropping. He threw the covers off and ran to his parent's room and smothered himself with pillows and blankets.

When morning came, he awoke to the sun beaming in his eyes. He blinked and sat up, a smile making its way onto his face.

"Kaa-san, what's for break—" Kazuki stopped, remembering what had happened. He pulled the covers closer until the scent of his father and mother were present. He breathed it in and pushed down the feeling of loneliness. He thought about what his mother had said to Naruto and to him and looked at the picture of the three of them, smiling on his sixth birthday. Minato wore his white haori with red trim, Kushina wore a kimono with Uzumaki clan spirals representing whirlpools on it and Kazuki wore a kimono similar to his father's but blue with white trim. They all smiled and Kazuki felt himself smile. That day had been such a happy day.

Kazuki shook off those thoughts and focused on eating breakfast and reporting to the Hokage to retrieve his hitai-ate and possibly meet his sensei and this Kimiko girl. He heated the fried rice and eventually found strawberry shortcake with peach slices on top. He ate a slice and smiled a little more. His mother had an affinity for making sweets that made him smile even if things were bad. Even if she was dead.

He washed his plate and chopsticks and set them to dry in a rack next to the sink. He stripped and went into the shower, not caring if it was ice cold water. Once he was clean, he donned a clean shirt and pants and fastened the kunai and shuriken holsters on his back and leg. He stood in his room for a moment of indecision before deciding to take some blank seal paper and ink.

Ten minutes had gone by and Kazuki was jumping in an arc across rooftops; the Kyuubi's destruction had been extensive and concentrated in the middle of the village, wiping out the middle of the village. His parent's house was on a compound with seals protecting it much like the Uchiha or Hyuuga clan's compound. However, this house was smaller but still large enough to have enough bedrooms, a nice kitchen, a spacious yard, and a large area in the courtyard to train.

As Kazuki walked through the hallway of the Hokage's office, many shinobi rushed back and forth, a few ANBU appearing and disappearing via shunshin. Kazuki could care less about any of them until one of them decided to talk to him.

"I'm sorry about your father. He's a hero. You should be proud," a kunoichi said gently.

Kazuki shook off the hand on his shoulder when she'd bent down to try to console him. Her face lifted in a shocked expression as he walked past. Kazuki stuffed his hands in his pockets and knocked on the Hokage's office door.

Kazuki hoped against everything that had happened and the horrific memories that his father would be sitting there, chiming for him to come in, a kind smile with bright blue eyes that matched his own, blonde hair that just made everything seem lighter and more comforting.

"Come in."

Kazuki twisted the knob, hope trying to sprout in his heart, hoping to see his father there. As the door swung open, it revealed Itachi in the office as well. Kazuki's eyes moved slowly, not wanting to be proved wrong, to the person with white robes, and a wrinkled face. Kazuki's eyes lost their glimmer as he bowed respectfully at the Hokage.

As a child, Kazuki often accompanied his mother to literally drag Minato out of his office from staying past 8 p.m. If it was even five minutes after the hour and Minato hadn't used the Hiraishin to be home in a flash, the wrath of Uzumaki Kushina was awakened and all could feel the killer intent from a mile away. Minato would sit there, sometimes just as the door splintered to pieces cringing as he tried to sign more paperwork with his head down and eyes wide in fear trying not to notice the woman with beautiful floating red hair. Other times, as the door splintered open, and the couple made eye contact, Minato would wave both hands in a sign of nonaggression and misunderstanding, his eyes wide again and a smile that was ready to morph into a scream of terror.

Meanwhile, Kazuki would stand there smugly as his mother growled at his father. Occasionally, he'd stand up for his father and then the angry Uzumaki would stand down, turning completely innocent as her darling son was so kind as to stand up for his girly father. Then he'd get slapped down, with Kushina more enraged, 'As if, ttebane!' Still, at home, she'd hug them but never really apologized. It wasn't like the two needed her apology; they loved her anyway.

"Kazuki, let's go," Itachi whispered as the Hokage had seemingly stopped talking and had dismissed them. Kazuki wanted to ask Itachi where their sensei was and where this Kimiko girl was, but he'd ask as Itachi explained their mission that was hard not to guess: rebuild the village.

"Where are the other two?" Kazuki asked softly as Itachi handed him his hitai-ate. Kazuki fastened it around his forehead in a similar fashion Itachi had done.

"In order to hasten the process, teams are split in half. Normally, it's the Genin together and the sensei alone, but I suppose we're special. However, I suspect that Hokage-sama wanted me to accompany you. I heard what happened. What of your mother's child?" Itachi asked.

"Tou-san and Kaa-san died protecting him and the village by sealing _it_ in him. I'm not allowed to see him; it's a mission directly from the Hokage," Kazuki explained.

Itachi's deep, warm black eyes widened in shock, but instead of giving pity the way Kazuki was going to be given for years to come, he smiled.

"I understand you're grieving, but our village must be rebuilt, right? Our top priority is protecting what your parents died for," Itachi said.

"Y-yeah," Kazuki said. On the inside, he smiled a little. _Itachi is truly a good friend. He always knows what to say. _

* * *

><p>Roughly four years later, the village was rebuilt to the point where only those who either lived through the experience knew the extent of the damage. The buildings looked the same way they had four years prior and village life continued more or less as usual.<p>

Last month, Kazuki's name began to echo again. He'd passed the Chuunin Exams along with Itachi and because he was already an interesting subject due to his heritage, his name was beginning to be well known. During the Chuunin Exams, teams would outwardly confront him just because his father had killed a distant uncle in the previous war. Kazuki had rolled his eyes and easily stole their scroll after their hatred clouded their mind.

Kazuki walked through the village, the wind blowing his red hair around his face. A soft smile made its way onto his face. Many children followed him, two of which many talked about. One was the younger brother of Itachi, Sasuke. The other was Kazuki's younger brother. But no one knew that. Only Itachi, Kakashi, Hiruzen, and only about three or four others.

"Kazuki-niichan! You're the Yondaime Hokage's kid, right? You're really strong right? Teach us how to be strong!" the children chimed.

Kazuki blinked and before his nonexistent skills with children could be discovered, Itachi found him. The children awed and Sasuke explained that Itachi was _his_ older brother. Naruto looked at him with jealously and the need to one-up him. A frown appeared on his face before he spoke up.

"Hey, Yondaime's kid," Naruto started. The other children noticed him and ran away with fear in their eyes. Naruto looked longingly at them before continuing with only Sasuke, Itachi, and Kazuki left to stand there.

"What?" Kazuki asked, about to choke on the heart that had leapt into his throat and he couldn't hear anything besides his loud heartbeat in his ears.

"Do I have an older sibling? Cause everyone seems to have one," Naruto looked at Kazuki hopefully. Kazuki knelt down and looked him in the eye. Naruto flinched at the sudden touch and closeness, but decided to savor every second of it.

"You did. He died a long time ago," Kazuki said. "I killed him."

Naruto's face fell before he looked up again from his feet to ask the famous and model ninja with amazing red hair and how did he get it that color and the perfectness of his existence. More questions popped in his brain, like how would he get to be strong like him and how does he get friends and how does he know his older brother and if he knew his parents and _could he train him?!_

Wait, he killed him?

"Kazuki, we need to go," Itachi said, breaking into the silence as people glanced at the hero's son, the Uchiha prodigy and a cute black-haired child, and the hated demon child. An angry shopkeeper stormed up to the blonde boy with a broom being brandished in one hand and a hate-filled expression. Naruto _hated_ that look.

"How come they all look at me like that?!" Naruto asked Kazuki, his eyes filled with loneliness and hurt and confusion and the want to be loved. Kazuki held up a hand to stop the shopkeeper. Naruto hugged Kazuki's legs and gave him a pleading look.

Kazuki looked up at the sky and sighed. _Tou-san, Kaa-san, what would you do in my situation? Would you disobey the Hokage's direct orders or would you continue deceiving him for the sake of his life and the village's sake?_

"As if I'd tell a demon like you," Kazuki said harshly and pushed him away, and made his eyes cold and heartless.

"W-wait, you killed my brother? Why?" Naruto's voice quivered; he couldn't believe the village's favorite shinobi would kill his brother, the only family he had. And he didn't look like he was going to explain himself, that murderer!

Naruto stepped back and noticed the large amount of people amassed around them. Naruto saw that perhaps many people would finally hear him and see him.

"I'm going to kill him and be greater than that Yondaime dad he has! All of you just watch!" Naruto yelled and ran off, hateful stares following him as he ran away. Kazuki pursed his lips and ran a hand through his hair and turned to follow the Uchiha; he'd been invited over for dinner.

The village had truly changed. After the Kyuubi incident, nothing was the same. The buildings cast shadows at odd angles. The paint on the buildings didn't seem to be the same shade they'd used to be. Orphans from the orphanage snuck out in the night on a quest to find Kazuki to make him adopt them.

Most of all, Naruto was alone. And he hated Kazuki.

Kazuki ate Mikoto's food with forced enjoyment when his first real interaction with his brother was replaying over and over in his head.


	2. Hate

Summary: What if Minato and Kushina had two children? What if one of them was Itachi's age and just as skilled? How would it affect the one born under his father's shadow and one under the Kyuubi's shadow? Read to find out.

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><p>Itachi and Kazuki tried to sense even a shred of chakra. Kazuki found it and the two silently dashed over fallen logs and thorny bushes to a cave with a huge opening filled with darkness. The two pulled out a kunai in defense and stopped moving to try to hear anything.<p>

A laugh rang through the air, chilling the blood of the two lone Konoha Chuunin. Their sensei and female teammate were nowhere to be found. Their sensei had just disappeared while Kimiko had tried to scream.

"Who's there?" Itachi demanded.

"Oh, Itachi-kun, don't be so disrespectful to your elders," the voice returned. Kazuki saw that the sun was rising once more, its rays slowly making its way through the cave, illuminating the wounds on the Chuunin's legs. Kazuki narrowed his eyes and waited for the person to speak again. He could tell his person liked to talk.

"Kazuki-kun, I saw the stunt you pulled the other day with your brother. Don't you think there will be repercussions?" the smooth and unnerving voice asked. Kazuki's eyes widened in anger and disbelief.

"You know nothing of me. You can't talk to me like you know me," Kazuki said softly, his blood boiling despite the killer aura that the person on the cave was giving off. He hated when people tried to know his past.

The sun's rays came to reveal the outer part of the cave. The snake Sannin, Orochimaru, stood with their sensei and Kimiko hanging from the ceiling, the former having his skin peeled off and the latter naked with kunai stabbing every major blood vessel area, grinning. The two Chuunin stood in shock as Kimiko began to try to speak.

"D…"

Kazuki and Itachi listened eagerly.

"Die."

Orochimaru frowned and suddenly, her body was cut up in pieces, blood splattering in every direction. The two Chuunin flinched and in a split second, a Kiri nin came and sliced their already bloody sensei into chunks that fell from the ceiling to the floor in a sickening squelch.

Orochimaru counted down five seconds and at five, he disappeared and left a snake clone to record the rest of the battle.

When his countdown met zero, the two Chuunin let out a sickening scream. The Kiri nin seemed to blink away a genjutsu, but he was already bleeding out and letting out a scream of terror and pain as strange, glowing chains and tomoe in a background of red seized his mind and body.

Kazuki fell to his knees, his vision getting blurry. Itachi was in a similar state but instead of chains erupting from his back, he had the red eyes of the Sharingan. Suddenly, the two vomited on the ground and panted hard, their bodies nursing wounds and their minds exploding with terrible images of their dead teammate and sensei.

Itachi checked the area for anyone in the vicinity as quickly as he could before he suppressed another dry heave. Kazuki gave him a look of worry and Itachi shook his head in assurance. Itachi closed his eyes and his Sharingan faded to black as the chains protruding from Kazuki's back disappeared.

As Itachi shakily stood, he pulled up Kazuki, who was terribly pale and the two made their way back to Konoha, briefly deciding their once C-Rank mission was failed due to their client and team dying. Well, murdered.

* * *

><p>"What was that?" Itachi asked as the gates of Konoha were nearing. The sun was getting to be high in the sky now but a chilly air was lingering.<p>

"I remember my mother talking about it once. She said that some members of the Uzumaki clan used to have the advanced sealing ability of chakra chains. It can suppress pretty much anything," Kazuki said.

"I wonder why Orochimaru was there. Do you think he wants something from us?" Itachi muttered as Kotetsu and Izumo stared at them as they walked by; the wounds on their arms and legs and through their sleeves were extensive.

"I don't know," Kazuki shook his head as the two readjusted their arms on the other's shoulders.

The two panted and shivered as they slowly made their way to the hospital. Each step made their legs ache and their heads burn. Their vision swam more and more and their stomachs lurched uncomfortably as they felt their bodies being lifted and the ground disappeared from the bottom of their feet.

"You two aren't looking so good," a strangely cheery voice nagged.

"Kakashi-senpai…" the two said, out of breath. "You don't need to…"

"Yes I do," Kakashi asked as he carried the two Chuunin by the backs of their collars. Kazuki remained silent even after he lay in a hospital bed, reading a book next to Itachi, who lay in another bed, reading as well.

An ANBU stood guard at their door mainly out of public show: the Uchiha requested it for Itachi and the Hokage requested it for Kazuki.

Two voices demanded they see the two Chuunin in the room. The ANBU acted as if they were not there and continued to stand there to prevent them from entering. The two children eventually turned to violence to try to enter. Before they knew it, the ANBU had them hanging by their feet and he tossed them onto the ground, the Uchiha landing somewhat smoothly.

"Nii-san! Let him let us in!" Sasuke whined.

Itachi didn't flare his chakra that would otherwise alert the ANBU to let the two children in. He could see that Kazuki had no intention of seeing his brother after saying something so terrible. Itachi knew that it was for the sake of protecting Naruto and Itachi knew that he'd say the same if Sasuke's life depended on it.

The children were stubborn. They seemed to have given up and their lively chakra signatures faded away, leaving only the nagging sensation in the back of the Chuunin's heads of the ANBU's chakra. As Itachi put his book down, having finished it, he saw Sasuke's cute face in the window and then being pushed out of the way momentarily by a similarly cute face with blonde hair framing it and huge blue eyes.

"There he is! Sasuke, look!" Naruto pointed at Kazuki. He turned around to get Sasuke's attention, only to be pulled down with Sasuke's hand holding on for dear life onto Naruto's ankle. Naruto now desperately clung to the ledge of the second floor hospital. The two gasped in surprise and fear.

"Nii-san!" Sasuke yelped, his pinky finger losing its grip on Naruto's ankle and Naruto was gritting his teeth to keep them from falling. Itachi didn't come, even as Naruto's fingers slipped off soon after Sasuke's cry for help.

Kazuki burst through the doors in a sudden motion. He saw his brother's small fingers slip off of the ledge and the look of terror he never wanted to see on such an innocent face. Sasuke had a similar look, his black eyes widened. He channeled chakra to his feet and raced over to catch them.

He twisted and slid painfully over rocks on his back with the two children roughly caught in his arms. He tried to ignore the pain in his back from the rocks that had embedded themselves in his skin causing blood to seep out.

"Are you two alright?" Kazuki asked. Sasuke meekly nodded while Naruto quickly got off him and kicked his arm, hard. Kazuki decided to not show he was in pain, which only served to make Naruto angrier.

"Naruto, he's the Yondaime's son! You can't do that!" Sasuke jumped up and held Naruto back easily; he'd been taught taijutsu fundamentals, or at least applied what he saw from other Uchiha clansmen.

"Oh yeah?! Then watch me!" Naruto screamed, trying to attack Kazuki again, who now stood behind Naruto suddenly and was easily holding back the four-year old. Naruto's eyes widened and Sasuke watched with mild awe. _The Yondaime's son is almost as amazing as Nii-san!_

Naruto squirmed in Kazuki's grip, which only tightened the more he tried to escape. Naruto threw Kazuki a hate-filled glare. Kazuki sighed and felt a little bit of his heart break. But he knew it was for the best, even if telling the child that he'd killed his brother was a lie.

Technically, Kazuki did kill Naruto's brother. Kazuki had to sacrifice a part of his love for his brother to be able to say such things to protect him. Kazuki gave Naruto a level stare with forced disgust the way the villagers looked at him. Kazuki was doing his best to keep this face up to distance himself from Naruto, to keep him away from his father's fatal shadow.

It didn't last for long. Kazuki closed his eyes and opened them to reveal pained ones, ones that had so much pain in them Naruto was surprised to see something like that and blinked. Kazuki's face turned hateful once more, turning back as quickly as it had come. Naruto knew that was typical of villagers; they would be hateful and then seem to grieve or something and then remember how much they hated him. But never told him why.

"I hate you," Naruto spat, glaring daggers at Kazuki, who continued with his faux-hateful stare.

Kazuki let Naruto go and the two ran off in the village, the sun's setting rays casting an almost orange hue on Naruto's blonde hair. Kazuki turned his head and walked back into the hospital to see that the nurses twisted a piece of hair in their fingers, slyly asking if he needed help with those wounds on his back.

Internally, Kazuki cringed. It was one of _those_ women. By one of those, he meant that it were women who seemed to find the Yondaime's, who was equally attractive, son striking. Of course, many knew he was one of Konoha's finest shinobi. Many in the village said that he was on par with the prodigy Uchiha Itachi's skills, and they'd be more or less right. Itachi held a doujutsu while Kazuki held a sealing kekkei genkai.

The nurse asked if he needed help, to which he said yes. She walked him back to his room and Itachi raised a brow as Kazuki took off his hospital shirt and the nurse carefully disinfected his wounds and wrapped bandages around his chest. Itachi watched carefully out of the corner of his eye mainly to poke fun at Kazuki later as the nurse seemed to run her fingers along his toned chest.

Once the nurse was done, she said that they'd both be released later tomorrow and handed Kazuki a clean shirt, which he gladly slipped on. With a parting wink, the nurse left and quietly closed the door. Kazuki leaned back into his pillows and Itachi began to laugh.

"What're you laughing at?" Kazuki demanded.

"The way that nurse looked at you!" Itachi laughed, trying his hardest to sober up.

"Shut it, Uchiha," Kazuki grumbled.

"Sorry. It's just amusing the way we get treated the same and even though I understand why you wouldn't want me to laugh, I can't help it. I think I may have a sadistic streak," Itachi hummed.

"You think? I know you do," Kazuki gave Itachi a mock glare but couldn't hold it for long, giving way to a grin. Itachi smiled back. The two ended up laughing together, their problems and worries somehow lessened for a moment.

* * *

><p>Kazuki stuffed his hands in his pockets and sighed. That really hadn't gone over well, the other day. Perhaps in a different life, he could've saved his parents and then his family wouldn't be so…unfamiliar. Kazuki thought over another word for it. Maybe dissolved. Or lifeless. Or, nonexistent. Ah, yes, that's the word.<p>

Kazuki walked into the park and took out a book to read. He was halfway into it, he sensed another chakra signature approaching. Kazuki looked at the page number and closed the book and waited for the person to sit next to him to talk.

"He was in quite an angry mood today. I wonder why," Kakashi mused.

Kazuki was at a loss for words. He hated having to turn a blind eye to his suffering younger brother, the one he'd sworn to protect to his parents before they bled to death. Kazuki sucked in air and shook his head, not wanting to answer.

"Us ninjas have our secrets, but we'll bleed more if we don't let it bled out," Kakashi warned. "You know where I am most of the time. If you need to talk to a fellow war veteran and friend, I'm here," Kakashi sensed Kazuki didn't want to talk about it. That just served to make the Copy Ninja more curious, but he knew he'd get nothing from Minato's son. Kakashi walked off as quickly as he'd come, to be replaced by another ninja.

"Kazuki, we need to talk. I have something I need to tell you," Itachi said softly, not sitting on the bench. Kazuki lifted his head and stood, knowing Itachi wouldn't be so upfront unless something was truly wrong. Kazuki nodded and followed the Uchiha to a secluded place.

Kazuki sat down on the cliff above the stone Hokage faces, glacing at his father's serious face. Itachi took a deep breath and Kazuki internally cringed. What was so wrong?

"My clan…is planning a coup against Konoha. They're probably going to need three years or so until they work out any problems or mishaps, but this is already bad. There are already rumors of the Kyuubi incident being our fault, so I don't want to imagine what would be next. Kazuki, I didn't want to bring you into this, but I felt like I needed to tell someone," Itachi sighed. "I'm sorry."

"Itachi, this does involve me. For one thing, you're my best friend. Second, Naruto is the jinchuuriki. He might be used or blamed or manipulated by a number of people. I can't allow that to happen," Kazuki assured. Itachi closed his eyes and a mirthless smile appeared.

"If something truly horrible were to happen, I'd want you to be by my side. Is that selfish?" Itachi hummed.

"No, it's not. As a fellow Konoha shinobi, a comrade, and a bet friend, I'd lay down my life and sacrifice anything. I'm sure you'd to the same," Kazuki replied.

Itachi nodded, feeling more at ease. Kazuki gave him a meaningful look and Itachi nodded. _Don't worry. _


	3. Alive

Summary: What if Minato and Kushina had two children? What if one of them was Itachi's age and just as skilled? How would it affect the one born under his father's shadow and one under the Kyuubi's shadow? Read to find out.

* * *

><p>"You are truly a kind child. Itachi, lastly, promise me you'll protect Sasuke," Fugaku said.<p>

"Kazuki, I'll tell Kushina-chan hello on the other side," Mikoto smiled.

The two Chuunin's hands gripped swords tightly in their hands to try to stop their hands from shaking so much. Tears rolled down their faces as they said Itachi said he understood and as Kazuki thanked her. Their swords plunged into the Uchiha patriarch and matriarch a moment later.

They had known that they'd miss important events in their brothers' lives. They'd known that they'd miss Academy graduations. They'd known they'd miss so, so many birthdays. They'd known they'd miss New Year's celebrations. They'd known they'd miss everything.

But the reality of their situation hit them hard. They wouldn't see their younger brothers who they had sworn to protect for a long time now. They wouldn't be able to say 'hello' even. The blood staining their hands and shinobi garb was proof enough of that.

Kazuki had known he'd be a traitor to Konoha the moment he Itachi handed him a sword. No, it was when they'd sat above the Hokage monument faces and agreed they'd do anything for each other. They were best friends, after all. They held each other's secrets and pain.

Kazuki suddenly felt sick. He didn't want this! He had to protect Naruto! He had to stay in the village and make sure no one got to him! Fear spread though his veins like wildfire and adrenaline shot through him. He suddenly couldn't breath and his senses were shot. When his vision and hearing came back, Itachi was putting Sasuke under a genjutsu.

Naruto stood in shock, not knowing what to do or say or think. He and Sasuke had stayed late, training and Sasuke invited him for dinner, knowing his mother would say yes. He looked at Kazuki with fear in his eyes. Kazuki instantly hated himself.

He hated himself more when he knew he had to follow Itachi's lead. Chains bounded towards the frightened jinchuuriki. They held him tightly and even though he knew he could squirm in them, he found he couldn't even blink or breathe. His lungs burned and his body screamed in pain as fire style chakra ran across the chains into Naruto's body.

Before Naruto could asphyxiate, Kazuki let him go. Naruto crumpled to the floor, barely conscious.

"You're weak," Kazuki spat with as much hate as he could put in his voice. He filled his eyes with loathing for the young blonde, who didn't have the strength to glare back.

In a pathway that led out of the Uchiha Compound, Itachi explained Kazuki's role in all this.

"As you two know, Kazuki is the Yondaime Hokage's son. He possesses a special kekkei genkai and is therefore useful to me. Transplanting his cells into my body to harness his power is too risky for my health and his life and by extension, his kekkei genkai; therefore I'm taking him with me," Itachi said smoothly.

Itachi ignored him and took another breath, one that burned as it entered his lungs and he crushed the hesitation that dared bubble up in him.

Itachi then began the painful explaination in which Sasuke was to come to him when he possessed the same eyes as him and in order to obtain them, he had to kill his closest friend.

"If you wish to kill us, then run and cling to life," the two Chuunin said in sync to the fearful Academy students.

Sasuke suddenly swooned with a small cry of pain and then his eyes burned a deep red and Naruto's chakra level spiked. The two Chuunin turned their backs and began to walk out of the compound. The Academy students trailed them but they were tired from training so late and something so mentally taxing and overwhelming that they only managed to get their brothers' hitai-ate off.

Itachi and Kazuki couldn't help it; tears rolled down their cheeks, much to their brothers' surprise. Before the two children could realize what was going on, they were already on the floor, unconscious. Wiping their tears off their faces harshly, the two Chuunin made their way to the gates leading out of the village.

They walked in silence, their hearts heavy and breaking. Kazuki felt sick and even more so when a very, very familiar ninja approached them not with cheerfulness at his subordinates, but with shock and caution. A visible eye glanced with uncertainty, not understanding why they were here.

Kakashi's visible eye narrowed suspiciously and he saw the large amount of blood splattered on their uniforms.

"Why are you two here?" Kakashi simply asked."What happened?"

Itachi didn't answer. Kazuki took the lead this time.

"Itachi killed his clan, leaving only Sasuke alive. Naruto is also there. I think you should be there for the village's little demon, Kakashi-senpai," Kazuki explained, smirking a little.

Kakashi knew that these were not his subordinates. But he had to see if Kazuki was bluffing or not. Then again, he had to prevent them from leaving the village. _Minato-sensei...why aren't you here at such crucial times?! _His mind whirled and tumbled with denial and lack of understanding. The Uchiha were dead? Wait, what? Why? How? Why was Itachi here? And Kazuki? Did he kill them along with Itachi? _Why?_ _I don't understand! What's going on?!_

_"_You aren't my subordinates...you aren't Itachi or Kazuki. The Chuunin I know wouldn't kill their clan for some arbitrary reason and wouldn't refer to his younger brother as a demon. Lies! You two are playing some kind of sick joke! This...this is the worst joke I've heard! You two are going to stay in the village with your brothers...isn't that what you want!?" Kakashi pulled out a kunai as his voice lowered with anger and disbelief and hurt and lifted up his hitai-ate, revealing a three-tomoe Sharingan.

"This fight will not take long. It is a person unworthy of the Sharingan against two kekkei genkai holders, one of which holding the true Sharingan," Itachi stated, not bothering to pull out a kunai. Kazuki ran a hand though his hair as chains sprouted out of him with a sigh.

Kakashi barely managed to dodge the first chain with a chakra-enhanced jump. The night was particularly dark, so he couldn't see the handseals Itachi was using to perform a fireball. A scorching hot ball of flames rushed towards Kakashi, who jumped back to dodge. Kazuki smirked and Kakashi shivered. He looked around and around for whatever could be next and suddenly found his feet bound to the ground with glowing chains. More sprouted out of the ground and Kakashi was fully constricted with the chakra chains. Fear raced through his mind as white, hot fire natured chakra poured into his body all at once, at a huge quantity and burned his insides. A scream ripped through the air and to silence him, Itachi grabbed his head and made him look at him straight in the eyes. A genjutsu bombarded his mind and Kakashi fell silent. Kazuki let Kakashi go once he was sure he was unconscious and let his chakra chains disappear into nothingness. Kakashi fell over with a light _thud_ and Itachi did one last small favor: he pulled down his hitai-ate.

Itachi and Kazuki stepped over Kakashi's limp body and made their way in the night through the forest to meet up with Madara at the rendezvous point. Kazuki's common sense and sense of being was fading in and out and he forced himself to be alert as Madara looked up to greet them.

"So I see you brought him as promised. Kazuki, right? When we get the last Bijuu, the Kyuubi, your job is to restrain his powers with that kekkei genkai of yours," Madara instructed. "For now, you'll be paired with Itachi unless one of you dies."

* * *

><p>It was carefully constructed. The two brothers stepped into the shadows to let their younger brothers bask in innocence. Sure, their smiling faces were thrown to the wind the moment Itachi and Kazuki's blades sunk into their first Uchiha victim.<p>

The Massacre was carefully placed so that the village believed that the Uchiha were unjustly massacred. Both Chuunin were put to blame for the killings.

A day before, Itachi and Kazuki pleaded to the Hokage to not tell Sasuke of any of this and to not tell Naruto who Kazuki truly was and who his parents were, respectively. Hiruzen gave the two a saddened look and nodded. The loyal Konoha shinobi bowed deeply and took a look at their brothers for the last time before they would be separated.

Naruto believed that Kazuki was a murderer to begin with, and Sasuke now believed such a thing having seen the Uchiha blood staining both Chuunin's swords. Sasuke and Naruto loathed them and wished every possible horrible and painful kind of torture and death on them.

At the funeral, Sasuke was given many sympathetic looks. Sasuke hated it. He hated their looks of pity, their fake words, and their inability to understand how much hate he had and how pained he was.

Naruto didn't give him pity. Naruto offered no words of consolation, having been hated by the same people who pitied the Uchiha. Now, Naruto saw Sasuke as a person to team up with to destroy the two Chuunin who had ruined their lives. As far as he knew, the two Chuunin were together, so it was only natural to arm himself with a person with common interests and a common enemy. Plus, Sasuke was a friend.

Sasuke agreed to this.

"We'll destroy them!" the two seven year olds decided.

Soon after, they ran to the training grounds to train with one another for months. This didn't go unnoticed by Kakashi. With his chakra concealed and a familiar orange book in hand, he watched with mild interest. As his eyes scanned over words, his mind was elsewhere. He wished Kazuki were here to watch along with him. Then again, Kazuki was a filthy murderer. He'd even tried to kill him. For what reason he spared Kakashi was something he could only speculate. Perhaps it was his valuable Sharingan. Maybe it was that he didn't have enough chakra to kill him. Maybe they left him alive for a future purpose. Kakashi shivered. He'd never let that happen.

He closed his visible eye with a painful sigh. He can't be thinking about that.

Kakashi leapt off a tree and found himself going to the Academy. He opened the door to see a Chuunin teacher shuffling papers. Kakashi lifted a hand in greeting and the Chuunin gave a curt nod.

"Is there anything I can help you with…" Iruka trailed off uncertainly.

"Hatake," Kakashi supplied.

"Yes, Hatake-san. Is there anything I can help you with?"

"I think Naruto needs some one-on-one time. His chakra levels are higher than the average Genin even, so he'll need more help to control all the chakra he has in his _own_ reserves," Kakashi said.

"Really? I thought he never trained so he simply didn't have the stamina or strength to keep up with his peers," Iruka said, surprise clearly evident on his face. He quickly took out a piece of paper and jotted that down. He looked up to Kakashi as if to ask if he needed to write anything else.

Kakashi turned and waved slightly to dismiss himself from the room. Iruka was confused for a moment. One large question was that why didn't Kakashi help Naruto? If he was concerned that much, he could train the boy himself. Iruka blinked and realized he was being stupid; Kakashi was the famous Copy Ninja. He didn't have time; he had missions.

* * *

><p><em>About five years later.<em>

* * *

><p>Naruto and Sasuke exchanged a look. They gripped their hitai-ate with elation. Naruto eagerly tied it around his head and grinned. <em>It looks great on me<em>. He glanced at Sasuke and saw how all the girls were congratulating him on passing and occasionally throwing glares Naruto's way.

Naruto sighed. He closed his eyes and remembered his promise to destroy Kazuki. Kazuki was the one that had destroyed his family. He didn't know how his parents died, but he had a feeling Kazuki was involved somehow.

Naruto thought himself to be similar to Sasuke in another sense as well; Sasuke had a family and his brother killed everyone while Naruto used to have a family even if he didn't remember them and Kazuki had probably killed his parents along with his brother.

Sasuke said he was going somewhere and Naruto distractedly nodded as he ran to Ichiraku Ramen. With a grin that he'd passed the Academy, he ordered miso ramen with extra pork. Teuchi greeted him and put down a large steaming bowl of ramen in front of him and said that they were on the house in celebration for Naruto's graduation.

As Naruto was finishing up his second bowl, Mizuki came and gave a small smile.

"Naruto, there's a requirement you haven't met yet. There's one more test," Mizuki said.

"Really? I thought I was done," Naruto said as Mizuki put down money and took Naruto out of the shop by a light tug. Naruto raised a brow but let himself be led by the white-haired Chuunin teacher. Mizuki led him through the winding streets of Konoha and under the darkness in an alley; Mizuki explained that Naruto had to steal the Scroll of Sealing and wait for him in the western part of the forest.

Naruto eagerly nodded and ran off. Once he'd stolen the scroll and gotten past pretty much all the shinobi guarding it, he sat down in the forest and began to read it over. A certain jutsu caught his eye, the Kage Bunshin. For the rest of a good thirty minutes, he studied it and found that if he threw chakra control that Iruka had tried to teach him despite how tedious it was considering how much he had, the jutsu was well suited for him.

With an angry and disappointed face, Iruka finally found the young blonde. Questions ran through his head and he settled on questioning the boy. However, his questions were cut short when Mizuki came and he found himself taking the hit of multiple painful shuriken.

"Law?" Naruto frowned. "What're you talking about?"

"It's a law that prevents the villager from saying that your true form is the Kyuubi!" Mizuki gave a malicious grin. He expected Naruto to cry or something, but instead a smirk made its way onto his lips and he lowly laughed.

"You think I'm going to scream? I'm not weak. I allowed you to lead me here and steal the scroll because I knew you had some kind of motive and I wanted to know. I realize that you're not worth anything now that you've told me your whole motive was to try to break me and use me. So…" Naruto threw the scroll at Iruka and formed a simple hand seal. _Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!_

Hundreds of Naruto's appeared around Mizuki, who screamed in pain as he was brutally beaten by Naruto. Naruto dispersed the clones and glared down at Mizuki. Mizuki weakly glared back until he slipped into unconsciousness from all his wounds.

"Are you alright, Iruka-sensei?" Naruto asked as Iruka carefully removed himself from the shuriken that had grazed his skin through his Chuunin vest. Iruka turned to the blonde and fearfully noted the sadistic streak he had. He nodded and gave a smile to reassure the child.

Naruto smiled back and walked with Iruka to return the scroll the back to Hiruzen.

Hiruzen gave Naruto a bit of a glare, which Naruto let slip off of him with another easy grin. Hiruzen sighed and as morning was slowly maturing in the sky, the village went back to its normal state and once 8am came, Naruto made his way back to the Academy for team placements.

"Team 7: Uchiha Sasuke, Haruno Sakura, and Uzumaki Naruto," Iruka said. Naruto and Sasuke gave each other a look of mild pleasure and Sakura simply complained about being on a team with Naruto, the one who she considered a failure.

"In his first year of the Academy, Naruto was the worst student. Now, he's ranked second in this class, behind Sasuke. You're ranked fourth, Haruno-san," Iruka corrected, mildly annoyed. Sakura looked shocked and did the quick math in her head. The rankings were Sasuke, Naruto, someone, and her. That didn't make sense.

Who is third?

Sakura must've muttered it loudly because Iruka answered her with an impatient look. He wanted to be over with this placement list so that he could prepare for the next batch of new students.

"Hyuuga Hinata is third," Iruka said quickly as he continued on with team placement listings.

* * *

><p>Introductions.<p>

Oh, what was he supposed to say?

_Just be yourself, Kakashi-senpai._

Kakashi groaned as he thought about Kazuki. He honestly didn't want to think about him. He decided to come late and surveyed the students. Two boys who seemed to have worked together to prank him with the paint filled balloons gave Kakashi an unimpressed expression as he came late. Kakashi's hair felt sticky after a sickening _pop_ from the balloon and after touching his hari and inspecting it, he saw it was a bright orange color. He looked at the students with an apathetic look and the two boys seemed to smirk at each other, much to their female teammate's anger and dismay. Kakashi realized she probably didn't have a hand in it and realized once more that building teamwork would be an uphill battle with the way the two boys had closed themselves off from her while she cast loving and hateful glances at Sasuke and Naruto respectively. _I really, really hate you three._

"Introductions."

Sakura went first.

"I'm Haruno Sakura. My likes are…my hobbies are…my dream is…!" Sakura squealed louder and louder with each pause, glancing at Sasuke each time. "And I hate Naruto!" Kakashi skipped over her after seeing her personality being a fangirl, which he hoped to grind out of her should he see anything worth saving in such a group.

"Next."

"I'm Uzumaki Naruto. I don't particularly like anything, but if I had to name it, I'd say I like ramen. My hobby is training. My dream is to become Hokage and kill Namikaze Kazuki," Naruto said, his voice darkening at the mention of his family's killer. He laced his fingers together and glared at something in the distance.

"Next."

"I'm Uchiha Sasuke. Like Naruto, I have a lot of things I hate and nothing I particularly like," Sasuke started. Sakura looked hurt at hearing him say that he didn't like anything. "As for hobbies, it's training. It's not a dream, for I will make a certain man's death real and restore my clan."

Kakashi internally sighed. This was certainly going to be a lot of work. He hated doing work almost as much as any Nara did. Kakashi looked at them with an indifferent eye and saw he had a fangirl and two bitter boys.

He began to explain the mission they had the next day and not to eat. He waited to see their confused faces, eye-smiled, and disappeared in a puff of smoke.


	4. Shadow

Summary: What if Minato and Kushina had two children? What if one of them was Itachi's age and just as skilled? How would it affect the one born under his father's shadow and one under the Kyuubi's shadow? Read to find out.

* * *

><p>"Yes?" Kazuki asked from his room. He put down his calligraphy brush and looked up as Deidara entered. Kazuki didn't stiffen or narrow his eyes or reach for a kunai as Deidara had expected. Kazuki simply sighed and looked expectantly at the man.<p>

"Why did you join the Akatsuki? You could've stayed loyal to your village. I doubt Itachi leaving was the real reason to push you to leave the precious village your father sacrificed everything to protect," Deidara smirked at the last part.

Kazuki saw the room now in various shades of red. This man…what did he want? Why was he immediately turning to the soft spots of his dead father? Why was he asking? What would he gain?

Kazuki calmed himself down, not wanting to give Deidara satisfaction that he'd gotten him angry. He took a deep breath and gave Deidara an apathetic look and relaxed more as he leaned on the kotatsu. As he pulled a bowl of oranges towards him, he gave it thought.

_I joined because I would give my brother a purpose and I wasn't going to let Itachi suffer more by being alone. We're orphans and to protect Konoha, we've thrown away our chances at normal happiness in exchange for glimmers of joy we might get from exchanging blows with the brothers that want to see us dead. Also, the guilt of letting Naruto be alone like that was too much; I want to die by his hands because I wasn't proactive enough to stop his suffering. I suppose that I am selfish enough to want to be in his life after all this and if I couldn't be the brother he wanted, I could be the person he hated. On a side note I suppose that I wanted to defy the Hokage's orders after all by making him incorporate me in his life._

_And, his goal is to kill me and if that is his only wish, then I'd be more than happy to grant it. Tou-san and Kaa-san won't be happy, but I've kept Naruto away from Tou-san's image so that people seeking revenge on Tou-san wouldn't hurt him. One son is enough. _

_I also didn't want Itachi to be alone in this. We'd made a promise to have each other's back and I'd said that I'd sacrifice anything for him. That is a factor of why I'm here, but the real reason was to give Naruto a purpose and to see him, even as an enemy._

"I have no intention of telling you," Kazuki said, peeling an orange and slipping a slice into his mouth. Deidara stiffened and his face turned angry out of the corner of Kazuki's eye. Chains suddenly wrapped around the man and Deidara couldn't move and his mind flooded with pain as Kazuki's fire natured chakra ran through his veins and burned everything they touched. His lungs burned with what would be asphyxiation if Kazuki continued. Deidara eventually collapsed on the floor and Kazuki paid his motionless body no attention.

"Kazuki, dinner is…" Itachi stopped as he saw Deidara collapsed on the floor and Kazuki calmly practicing kanji on a sheet of paper. Itachi didn't ask; he could make out the basic situation: Deidra had asked something stupid and Kazuki shut him up.

"Yeah, thanks," Kazuki stood up and dragged Deidara out of his room. He put the man against the wall and closed the door, a seal activating on the doorknob for a moment, lighting up red and then fading as if it was disappearing.

Kazuki followed Itachi to the dining hall, where Pein had made it mandatory for all members to eat together. Hidan complained outright, saying he didn't like eating with scum like Kazuki or Itachi.

"Where is Deidara?" Konan asked.

Kazuki shrugged and served himself rice and cracked an egg over it and mixed it until everything was well incorporated. Itachi and Kazuki finished last, not feeling all that hungry. Once everyone was done, they washed the bowls and chopsticks and put them away.

"Pein wants to speak with you," Konan walked up to them a few minutes later. The two seventeen year olds nodded politely and dried off their hands. Exchanging confused looks, the two followed Konan to speak with Pein. Konan opened the door and the three walked into the dark room, barely lit with candles.

"You wanted to speak with us?" Itachi asked.

"Our information on jinchuuriki is limited, so I want you two to go to Konoha as a team from Tomogakure in the Chuunin Exams three months from now," Pein said his purple eyes staring down at the two Akatsuki members as they knelt respectively.

"Hai," the two said.

"Dismissed."

* * *

><p>Kakashi had been asleep for two days now. Naruto seemed worried even though Sakura hit him, saying that Kakashi was a Jounin and therefore wouldn't be killed so easily and would wake up without a doubt. A few minutes later, that exact thing happened.<p>

Kakashi was slightly confused but regained his bearings after Naruto filled him in on what had happened in the last few days. Kakashi nodded wearily and pulled on his Jounin vest and after he ate some kind of bland rice porridge, he took out his Genin to train them.

To walk up trees.

In hindsight, Kakashi had no idea why he was making them go up trees, but it seemed like the only thing he could make them do with a crutch and a tempting book to read and two male Genin who simply wanted to kill their brothers. The girl easily walked up the tree, so Kakashi sent her off to protect the bridge and such.

By noon, Sasuke and Naruto had barely make any progress getting up the tree, but Kakashi simply pinned that up to them having oceans of chakra locked in them. He stood and decided to treat them to lunch, seeing how tired they already were. The two nodded wearily but Naruto immediately perked up as if he hadn't wasted half his chakra making notches on a tree when Kakashi mentioned ramen.

Naruto greedily gobbled down the noodles, quietly complaining that it wasn't as good as Ichiraku Ramen. Kakashi agreed with him on a different matter: Ichiraku was cheaper than this. He understood inflation percentages were ridiculously high because the country was dirt poor, but he didn't expect the prices to be _that_ high.

As a result, he limited Naruto to only one bowl. Naruto glared in irritation but was glad to eat Sasuke's bowl, which Sasuke barely touched. When Kakashi left the money, he paid only the exact amount accounting for every drop of broth.

The chef glared at Kakashi for not tipping, but it wasn't like Kakashi was about to anyway.

So then Kakashi subjected the two Genin to walking up the tree for the rest of the night, telling them to try to get back by 10pm.

Sasuke and Naruto shook their heads and by around midnight, they'd gotten to the top. Easily jumping down from branch to branch, they allowed a light laugh to relieve the stress and initial frustration at not being able to get it the first time around.

Sasuke suddenly stiffened and brought out a kunai. He sensed a presence here, and he didn't like it. He turned around and around, trying to pinpoint where the person was. He could feel their cold eyes on him and he hated being stared at like a bug.

Naruto gave Sasuke an odd look and said that he didn't sense anything.

"Maybe you're hungry. You didn't finish your ramen," Naruto supplied.

"Shut up," Sasuke ground out, concentrating. His eyes widened in sudden recognition of where the person was. He let his kunai fly and all he heard was the hollow sound of a tree being _thwacked_ by the kunai.

"Oh, you've got skills, Konoha shinobi," a female voice laughed lightly. A girl with black hair and black eyes and a white kimono intricately designed with crested ibises and sparkling blue thread carefully and thinly woven in stepped into the moonlight. She looked around their age but Sasuke wasn't so sure. And something about her screamed something wrong.

"Who are you? Why are you here?" Sasuke demanded, grabbing another kunai.

* * *

><p>"How much?" Zabuza glanced at the strange ninja, who refused to take off his hat to reveal his face; it cast a shadow. Zabuza was still recovering from his fight with Kakashi. Despite his wounds, he sat up in his bed to show that he still had strength to kill whoever this ninja was. <em>Probably some failed nuke-nin.<em>

"Let me explain first. You are an expensive fighter and Gato sees you as too costly to pay in comparison with other fighters, and therefore expendable. When you fight the Konoha team again, cheaper fighters will be laying in the shadows, waiting for you to be killed by Kakashi-senpai. Either that, or Kakashi-senpai dies and the Genin kill you. In any case, you'll be killed. In order to prevent certain events, I will pay you 9,000,000 ryo to make a believable fight in exchange for not killing any of the Konoha team's members. I'll kill the other fighters when they gather at the end of the fight," he explained.

"Certain events? Like those Genin could kill me," Zabuza scoffed. "Who are you anyway and why would you refer to that Copy Ninja as 'senpai'?" Zabuza stopped and took a good look at the ninja. He frowned, unable to see his face. A light scowl appeared on the Demon of the Mist's face and he demanded to see his face.

"You've figured it out? I need to work on my honorifics if it's that easy," a light chuckle came. "Is it a deal or not?"

"Answer my questions first," Zabuza glared, realizing whom it was. He didn't like it. Not at all.

"You want information about the Genin? I'm afraid all I'll give are names," he replied. "Uzumaki Naruto, Uchiha Sasuke, and Haruno Sakura. You needn't worry about the girl for now. The two males however, they're…different."

"So there's a useless girl, Kakashi with his Sharingan, the brother of that Uchiha who killed his clan, and some brat. I don't see what's so dangerous about the other brat. He has some affinity for special jutsu or something?" Zabuza asked in a tone of disinterest.  
>"I suppose in the worst case scenario you'll find out," the strange ninja shifted slightly.<p>

"Look, I've got no choice. If you're that Yondaime Hokage's son wanting me to protect that team, I've got to do it. You'll probably just kill me if I don't. And, this amount of money is a rather large sum, so I'll do a good job. Why don't you do it if you care so much about that team? You're probably more capable to kill them all than me," Zabuza argued. "But, it's a deal."

"Why don't I do it, you ask? Well, mention my full name to the blonde Genin and see the results. It's rather interesting," Kazuki replied, his voice twinged with a bit of sorrow at the end. Zabuza, like most seasoned shinobi, knew not to ask about a shinobi's past; it was often bloody. And, he already knew about Kazuki's famous hand in the Uchiha Massacre.

Zabuza nodded as Kazuki handed him the money and turned to leave. His footsteps went for a few paces before his form disappeared without even a puff of smoke. Zabuza clicked his tongue in annoyance; those Konoha shinobi loved to show off. Even if Kazuki wasn't showing off, it just showed that Kazuki was strong enough to kill him if he pleased. After all, that accursed blood of Namikaze Minato ran through his veins, the one who had defeated a thousand man army in the Third Shinobi World War. And it wasn't like Kazuki and Itachi hadn't been notable either. Now even more so, people feared the names Namikaze Kazuki and Uchiha Itachi.

Zabuza pocketed the money and went back to sleep. That annoying Namikaze had interrupted him.

* * *

><p>Kazuki sat on the bridge's edge, looking at the fights with disinterest. It seemed like Reiko had done her job to tell Sasuke and Naruto to not intentionally kill either Haku or Zabuza. Then, inevitably, Kakashi and Sakura would be told and from today's 'fight', it was obvious to the two Akatsuki members that they knew everyone knew.<p>

Sasuke's aura changed suddenly as more senbon stabbed his body from inside the ice mirror prison. His movements began to be more precise even after being stabbed by numerous senbon. The ice user seemed to sense this and his attacks began to be more and more lethal seeming. Itachi was prepared to step in, but Kazuki held him back. Itachi shot him a worried glance and Kazuki simply shook his head.

Many more attacks came and Sasuke fell to the floor. The ice user showed no remorse behind that mask. Something in the air snapped and Naruto was suddenly surrounded by waves of ominous red chakra.

The Jounin a good forty feet away and they seemed to stiffen. Zabuza cursed loudly and Kakashi pulled out a scroll, bit his thumb, and streaked his blood across it.

"Zabuza, how about we finish this?" Kakashi said as the two engaged in a much more realistic battle.

"I think this is what that Namikaze was talking about," Zabuza muttered. Kakashi and Naruto, thanks to enhanced hearing due to the Kyuubi's chakra surging through him, heard him. This stopped Naruto's punch from making contact with Haku. Naruto turned and raced towards Zabuza with the intent to kill.

"_Where is he?!_" Naruto growled, his eyes burning red and his claws sharp and ready to rip the Kiri nin to shreds. When Zabuza didn't respond, more chakra flooded Naruto's system until the excess chakra was forced out and took the form of a fox with one tail. Kazuki pushed himself off the railing and when Itachi glanced at where the air was dispersed from Kazuki's extremely fast movement, he was already simultaneously wrapping Naruto in chakra chains and putting him under a genjutsu so he wouldn't see that Kazuki was here.

When Naruto fell to the ground, the ominous red chakra pushed and sealed back into his body, the two Jounin took a curious look at the cloaked figure. Zabuza let out a low chuckle.

"Thank you, Zabuza-san. You and Haku-san are free to go," Kazuki said simply and disappeared into the shadows to return next to Itachi. Itachi looked at his friend and saw his hands shook. Itachi turned away and looked on at the pile of bodies that Kazuki had killed during the fight.

Zabuza flicked his wrist and Haku appeared by his side. Zabuza nodded at Kakashi, who knelt, tired, and picked up the jinchuuriki.

"Wait, Zabuza," Kakashi called out. "Why did you refer to a nuke-nin earlier? Was he the one who paid you off from Gato and had you fake our fight?"

"I think you should ask him yourself," Zabuza gestured to where Kazuki and Itachi were sitting. Kakashi turned his head and saw nothing there. He turned to the Kiri nin and sighed. _Did Kazuki do this? Does he want to keep Naruto alive to use the Kyuubi somehow?_

Kakashi looked at the unconscious Genin. Sakura was crying on Sasuke's limp body, much to the male's displeasure. He shoved the girl off to her shock and glared. He looked at Naruto and shock was clear on his face. Kakashi could see the question on his lips and answered it.

"He's not dead," Kakashi said.

Sasuke relaxed a bit and swayed to his feet. He let out a shaky breath as Kakashi undid the genjutsu plaguing Naruto's mind. Naruto's eyes opened and he pushed Kakashi away, trying to regain his bearings. He looked at Tazuna to Sakura and then to Sasuke. His eyes lingered in Sasuke's face for a moment more before Team 7 declared the mission completed and headed back to Konoha.

Naruto walked along, pondering what had happened. One moment Zabuza was saying…something and then he found himself in a world with dead bodies littering the streets, their blood staining his clothes and skin. He began to scream incoherent ramblings and a person approached him from behind. A cold hand touched his shoulder and as he looked behind him, Kakashi's chakra pulled him out of the genjutsu. Then, he was with his teammates going back to Konoha.


	5. Part I and II

Summary: What if Minato and Kushina had two children? What if one of them was Itachi's age and just as skilled? How would it affect the one born under his father's shadow and one under the Kyuubi's shadow? Read to find out.

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><p>"I, Hatake Kakashi, recommend Uchiha Sasuke, Haruno Sakura, and Uzumaki Naruto to the Chuunin Selection Exams," Kakashi said, his hand itching to rip out Icha Icha Paradise. It had just gotten to the pinnacle of the book where Noriaki confesses his love to Junko, a girl who hates him for being a peeping tom. Kakashi just <em>had<em> to know if they got together or not. Screw his Genin busting their asses to become Chuunin; Junko was an appealing character!

The other two Jounin recommended their Genin as well and Gai behind him said something about being youthful with the Uchiha and Uzumaki, but Kakashi had already taken the slips of paper to let his Genin into the Exams and was turning around, much to…Iruka?'s dismay. Iruka said something about him turning around and '…I know them…my students…not ready…'

Kakashi lazily turned his head a tad to give Iruka a sideways glance. Iruka scowled at the top Elite Jounin who, if he'd forgotten, could kill him before he could glance down at the pool of blood. Kakashi didn't consider it, he simply gave the Chuunin what he hoped was an annoyed look and an expression that read, 'What?'

"They're my students, Kakashi-san! I know they're not ready!" Iruka argued.

"Oh, Iruka, if only you could've seen their excellent performance on an accidental B-Rank, or was it A-Rank mission(?). Naruto and Sasuke are going to be heavy hitters in ninjutsu or taijutsu and Sakura is going to be our genjutsu and medical ninjutsu specialist. Doesn't that sound well rounded to you? Also, they're not your students anymore; they're mine. You've got your own Academy kids to worry about, so don't worry about the ones under a higher ranked ninja, especially _me_," Kakashi lectured and quickly walked away, his hand in his back pocket, gripping the bright orange and too friendly cover of Icha Icha. His eyes scanned over the book's words and he almost squealed in joy; Junko had actually said yes to his marriage proposal after beating Noriaki to a pulp saying how if he ever peeped on any more women, she'd _destroy_ him. Noriaki took her seriously as he nursed a large bruise on his arm.

Meanwhile, he made his way to the bridge where his cute Genin were waiting impatiently. He walked up, still reading. He threw them the papers at them, which they deftly caught, to his liking. If they hadn't caught it he'd rip them up and leave. Naruto and Sasuke read it over while Sakura squealed in joy.

The Genin ran off, Sakura to brag to Ino while Naruto and Sasuke walked together.

Naruto and Sasuke were very close. They trained together to improve their taijutsu, ninjustu, and genjutsu. Sometimes, Sasuke spied on other teams with his Sharingan to get different techniques. Once he'd watched the taijutsu fight with his kekkei genkai, he'd practice on Naruto and the two would gain a wide range of ways to counter these taijutsu styles.

One of the more difficult styles was the Hyuuga Juuken. Their kekkei genkai was something neither had, so it was hard to practice a style if they couldn't even see the tenketsu points. Still, Sasuke would watch Hyuuga Neji often to gain more insight of how their fighting style worked.

Over the next month, the two Genin worked to improve kunai accuracy, chakra control, and taijutsu skills.

When a month had finally passed, the Chuunin Exams loomed. Sakura complained about being scared but Naruto and Sasuke only saw this as an opportunity to gain power to beat the two nuke-nin who had ripped their lives into shreds.

Sasuke noticed something out of the corner of his eye as Neji approached him, declaring some kind of losing and fate and something like that. Sasuke was barely listening, feeling two pairs of eyes on him. His eyes moved to see three Genin from a village with 友 engraved on it. He couldn't remember seeing a village called Tomogakure, much less having Genin admitted. He dismissed it. If he hadn't heard of them, they weren't of a strong village, therefore likely to be weak and easy to beat.

Two of the three Tomogakure ninja gave him blank looks, while the other, a girl, waved in a friendly way. Sasuke raised his brows and the two males' faces didn't change, as if bored by his existence. Sasuke frowned and confronted them.

"Oi, don't you know who I am? I'm—" Sasuke started.

"Uchiha Sasuke, the last Uchiha whose clan was murdered by his brother or something. Boring," one of the males waved him off, covering up a yawn. He cracked open an eye and saw the Uchiha was beginning to redden in anger.

The two males sighed and shook their heads, pulling the girl along and the group of three Tomogakure walked through the doors, leaving the fuming Uchiha behind. Sasuke growled and grabbed Naruto and walked through the doors, not bothering to get the annoying pink haired girl to come along. The other Konoha teams filed in and Kiba ended up making a huge announcement that the rookie Konoha teams were there and such. Naruto kicked him and berated him for making such a scene and did he want to be killed first.

The girl of Tomogakure did he part: making friends with Sakura and Ino. The Tomogakure girl's name was Rei. She had caramel colored hair and a smile always shining on her face. The rookie Genin didn't have any experience to know that usually, a shinobi who smiled was either a psychopath or a spy.

As it turned out, Itachi and Kazuki had simply gotten a girl from a random village with moderate chakra levels and put her under a rather powerful genjutsu that would control her actions without her even knowing it. She could perform simple jutsu and two chakra-natured jutsu.

As for their Jounin sensei, Kazuki had made a Shadow Clone to stand in his place for the First Exam. The original Kazuki stayed with the other Jounin of all of the teams who led Genin teams. He had also used a mild henge to change his appearance as Jounin, a different one for being a Genin and Itachi did the same.

Kazuki saw the three rookie Genin Jounin leaders and stayed away, wary. He didn't want to attract their attention; he came with a low profile from a weak ninja village and intended to keep it that way. He reminded himself over and over that he _can't_ interfere with any possibly fatal battles Naruto or Sasuke would be fighting and he can't attract any attention of the Jounin, who were much, much more suspicious of foreign shinobi, especially ones who were of the same caliber.

Kazuki looked at all the Jounin sensei carefully and noticed how the Konoha rookie Genin Jounin leaders were both keeping away from him and eyeing him suspiciously. Kazuki simply turned around and peered out of the window with a contemplative look easily splattered across his poker face, which Itachi had helped him develop.

The tension in the air slowly dissipated. Kazuki looked out at the Yondaime Hokage's stone face and silently sent an apology. _I'm sorry, Tou-san. Instead of you or Kaa-san dying, I should've been there using my kekkei genkai to restrain the Kyuubi and then Naruto wouldn't have his life set on killing me. But, I've failed as a brother, failing your last wishes, so isn't it for the best? I'm not even alone in this; I've got Itachi. _

Kazuki sighed and noticed how time was almost up for the Genin. According to his clone, multiple teams had already been dropped. He stood to make his way over to the other side of the Academy where his 'team' would be waiting.

Kakashi ended up following him, having the same intention. Kazuki honestly didn't want to be followed by anyone, especially him, but it would look suspicious if he voiced his discomfort.

"What village are you from?" Kakashi asked, having even put his book away. Internally, Kazuki sighed. Kakashi was really putting a wrench in his plans. Kakashi was either suspicious of him or was simply curious. Knowing Kakashi, it was probably 90% suspicion and 10% curiosity.

"Tomogakure. We're really small so we could only send one team. We're lucky to even be here," Kazuki joked. The doors opened and multiple teams filed out, ready to go somewhere.  
>"Good job. Don't get killed," Kakashi eye-smiled at his team walked hurriedly to wherever they needed to go. Naruto and Sasuke gave him a nod and disappeared. Kazuki patted his clone's and the girl's head. Itachi let a fake smile grace his lips and the Tomogakure team left to go to the Forest of Death.<p>

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><p>Within the first three hours of the Second Exam, the Tomogakure team was covered in blood from killed teams. 16 teams had passed the First Exam, four from Konoha, one from Suna, two from Otogakure, one from Tomogakure and some other villages. Itachi and Kazuki wanted to lure all danger to them to keep their brothers safe. It also gave them good practice.<p>

Itachi took out his sword out of an Ame nin's body, which fell to the ground in a growing pool of blood. Itachi glanced at Kazuki, who was sheathing his sword.

"That makes that our 6th team we've eliminated. We've got seven scrolls including ours. The teams we killed, it seems like, hadn't gotten any of the other contestants' scrolls yet. What do you want to do?" Kazuki asked as he put the dead Ame-nin's scroll in his pocket.

"Let's take a look at the Konoha teams," Itachi said. "Let's go, Rei."

"Hai," she stood after grabbing multiple senbon and other salvageable gear.

Itachi and Kazuki turned with Rei following to the trees and jumped up, going at a moderate pace with their eyes, ears, and chakra sensing abilities at work to find any teams. They'd passed a few other foreign nin teams who wanted to fight them, but the Tomogakure team were in no mood for playing along with their chase.

The shadows in the forest were growing longer than the two nuke-nin had anticipated. However, it was a forest filled with not only lethal animals, insects, and foliage, but fearful, angry, or hurt Genin. Most likely, those kinds of emotions were going to set in within a few days. No one would be safe from those emotions. Except perhaps the whole Tomogakure team. Rei was under a genjutsu so she really wasn't processing the information until it was all over and Itachi undid the genjutsu that basically put a fog in her mind so she couldn't really tell much of anything. The two males were simply unsurprised by the shinobi world's ways.

Kazuki didn't want Itachi to send out waves of chakra looking for their brothers since they 1) might recognize their chakra and end up blowing their cover and 2) it might catch the eye of the people who watched the Exams, like other Jounin sensei or the Hokage and 3) there might be teams that posed a threat, a real threat.

Itachi nodded in acquiescence, his face slightly pained. Kazuki put a hand on his shoulder and forced air out of his mouth with clenched teeth.

"At least he liked you, right?" Kazuki asked.

"Yeah," Itachi looked away, not wanting to say anything about Kazuki's trouble with his brother.

Within a few hours, night had completely fallen. Itachi helped Rei catch fish while Kazuki put up barriers. He took out a slip of sealing paper and ink, carefully inscribing the correct kanji he wanted. Once he was done, he applied them in a hexagon shape around the small camp. Those who wanted to enter would have to either load the seal capacitors with so much chakra they'd break the seal or Kazuki would use some of his own blood, usually from a bit finger, and chakra to put down a part of the seal. However, most teams wanted to either show off to a large hidden village's team or they were just intent on passing. So, wasting chakra on a no-name village like Tomogakure was a waste of time.

Kazuki put back his ink and sealing papers in his other pocket and started a fire with a weak fire style justu. He glanced over at Itachi and Rei and saw that they were cutting off the fish heads and descaling them with a kunai and a makeshift cutting board: a flat rock. One they'd properly prepared the fish, they stuck thin sticks through them and angled them over the fire to cook.

The aroma of cooked fish was enough to bring some hungry Genin out of the forest into Tomogakure's line of sight. Rei looked up first, followed by Itachi and Kazuki. None of the three looked particularly scared or nervous or surprised for that matter by a certain pink haired kunoichi.

"I'm sorry to ask like this, but do you have any leftover fish?" Sakura asked quietly, tapping the seal curiously.

"Where are your teammates?" Kazuki shot back.

"T-they're not so good at catching fish so I thought…" Sakura twirled a piece of hair nervously. She could tell from even the seal and the six fish that were roasting that this team had some substantial skills. Her mind was working on overdrive and fatigue was getting to her, so stupid things were bound to come out of her mouth.

"Do you want to ally with us?" Sakura squeaked.

"That's no skin off our backs. Bring your team over then," Kazuki said. "We've got more fish."

Sakura's features brightened significantly and she ran off to tell her teammates the news that they'd gained an ally.

Naruto and Sasuke raised their brows at this but had no choice but to agree since not eating today would affect their performance over the next day and so on. Sasuke saw this as also a perfect chance to get a scroll. In a lethal place like this, you could never be too early to escape death. Naruto and Sasuke sighed and had Sakura lead them to the Tomogakure team. Sakura nodded enthusiastically, glad she was finally of help.

Kazuki looked up as he threw the stick that had stabbed the fish behind him. He casually got to his feet and bit a thumb. Over the kanji he'd written, he wrote a very similar kanji over it in blood and the seal went down for a few seconds before it stabilized again. Team 7 stepped in quickly and they took a seat by the fire, trying to warm up.

Naruto and Sasuke had tried to catch fish but all they had gotten was wet clothes. Seeing how this was their only pair they'd brought, they were forced to strip and lay their clothes on the rocks close to the fire to dry. Sakura looked away from the two of them, choosing to talk with Rei.

Kazuki could feel the color draining from his face and his stomach suddenly turning violent. His heartbeat screamed in his ears and his fists clenched until his fingernails drew blood. His chest burned from lack of oxygen and he turned and ran to the stream to vomit.

Naruto and Sasuke turned away from the sight and Itachi was sitting by Kazuki, trying to calm him down. Itachi forced Kazuki to look him in the eye and gave him a hard look.

"What's wrong?" Itachi asked.

"I…I can't do it," Kazuki mumbled, his eyes distant.

"Don't say that. Then everything you've done will be in vain. I don't like this at all either and I wish I could kill myself right now and be done, but we must answer for our crimes some way or another. Don't leave me alone here. We need each other," Itachi reminded him.

"Y-yeah," Kazuki said, his eyes cast downward.

"Hey, everything okay?" Naruto asked, munching on a fish along with Sasuke. Sakura nibbled on hers, looking concerned for the Tomogakure ninja.

"Yes," Kazuki answered, his voice devoid of emotion or inflection. _I've got to do everything to protect him. Itachi's right._

Naruto narrowed his eyes but didn't say anything. Sasuke half expected Itachi to vomit or something, but the disguised Uchiha revealed nothing. Sakura saw that everything was back to normal so she simply kept talking to Rei about Konoha and what is Tomogakure like and so on and so forth.

Kazuki turned and walked back to the fire, the firelight illuminating his clothes and face. His face was still pale but that wasn't what fascinated the Konoha nin. To be more precise, it scared them and confused them.

"How many scrolls do you have, anyway?" Sasuke narrowed his eyes.

"Why do you ask?" Kazuki asked, his henge brown eyes twinkling with humor.

There was a tension in the air before Sasuke responded.

"There were 16 teams that passed. It's only been a day since the exams began. You look as if you've been enough fights to be bathing in killed Genin's blood. Exactly how many scrolls do you have if you took down so many teams?" Sasuke asked, his voice angry.

Kazuki's lips quirked into a tiny smile. He glanced at Itachi and smirked. Itachi gave a mock glare and responded to Sasuke's question.

"We're a small village, but we concentrate our skills in staying hidden until the last moment to strike. Most of the teams were either too proud of simple jutsu or had emotions of fear or arrogance that they didn't sense us coming. We have taken down 6 teams. None of those teams had two scrolls. So, we have seven scrolls including our own," Itachi responded, his black eyes and white hair glinting in the flickering firelight. The Konoha team sat in shock, not believing what Itachi was saying. Sakura looked fearful but her male teammates looked miffed.

"It's true. My teammates are rather exceptional," Rei offered, her eyes calm.

From that point on, the Konoha team didn't necessarily trust the Tomogakure team. Naruto and Kazuki stayed up to keep watch for any dangerous people around. Kazuki looked at Naruto carefully to see if he had any bruises or scratches or broken bones. His eyes narrowed as he saw how the way Naruto was positioning his hand.

Naruto noticed how Kazuki was watching him and glared.

"What do you want?" Naruto asked harshly. Kazuki feigned a look of hurt but Naruto seemed to take it seriously. A twinge of guilt flashed on the Genin's face and he looked away. Kazuki was about to say it was okay, but Naruto cut him off.

"Sorry…" Naruto mumbled. "I didn't want to tell my team because then I'd be a dead weight. I want to be strong, so I can't let a broken wrist stand between that need and me."

Kazuki let out a smile, a true smile. His eyes softened and his brows lifted a little. He turned his head towards the moon and let out a soft laugh. Kazuki instructed Naruto to hold out his hand as Kazuki pulled out a storage scroll and unsealed some healing cream and medicinal bandages. He expertly wrapped his younger brother's wrist all the while smiling.

"Thanks," Naruto let out his signature smile. Kazuki flinched but didn't look away. _He's just like Tou-san…but at heart he's like Kaa-san. I wonder what you two would think, if you were here?_

Kazuki suddenly unfurled most of the scroll and unsealed a necklace. Naruto cocked his head in confusion.

"This holds special chakra. This chakra is sealing chakra and you can also use it for combination jutsu. Among other people's chakra, it's mine. I have fire natured chakra and I get a feeling yours is wind natured. Right?" Kazuki carefully put the necklace around his brother's neck.

"Yeah. That'll be really cool then. Thanks, for all of this," Naruto said, examining the necklace. He held it up to the moon to get some light. With his eyes squinted to see the engraving, he tried to see it.

"Who's…Kushina?" Naruto turned to Kazuki. But by the time he turned to look at Kazuki, the Tomogakure nin was already walking into his tent to change places with Itachi. Naruto frowned and shrugged it off. Probably some brand or something.


	6. Preliminaries

Summary: What if Minato and Kushina had two children? What if one of them was Itachi's age and just as skilled? How would it affect the one born under his father's shadow and one under the Kyuubi's shadow? Read to find out.

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><p><em>Tomorrow is the last day to get to the tower. We don't need all your scrolls or power. I'm grateful for your help, but we're going our separate ways. Don't follow, or I'll change my mind to not kill you.<em>

Sasuke's words echoed in Itachi's mind. Itachi shifted slightly from his current place of sitting and looked about the room for the umpteenth time. Apart from the Suna team, they were the only other team to have finished before the time limit of five days.

Two days had passed and Itachi still didn't like those words. He wanted nothing but to stay by Sasuke's side and keep him safe, but he knew that if he did that, it may cause more harm than good. Plus, Sasuke was a ninja and if Itachi wanted Sasuke to keep hating him and by extension away from the truth, he'd have to let Sasuke fly on his own.

When Team 7 had finally walked through the door, the disguised Chuunin relaxed a little more. The teams assembled in ranks and listened to Hiruzen explain the true meaning of the Chuunin Exams. Kazuki and Itachi had gotten a similar speech when they'd taken the Exams in a rather hostile place: Iwa. Kazuki and Itachi had been targets of kidnappers, although Iwa was still recovering from Minato's famous battle of 1 vs. 1,000 and their bruised ego and pride.

Then it was decided that preliminaries would be held, even though one of the Konoha teams dropped out suddenly. All there was left was Team Kakashi, Gai, Asuma, Kurenai, and the Tomogakure, Sunagakure, and Otogakure teams. The one thing that caught the two Chuunin off guard was that instead of two people fighting, it would be done in threes. There would be seven winners, making for three one-on-one matches and then an extra person to battle a random pair.

_Round 1: Itachi (or Aki on the screen) vs. Rei vs. Dosu._

Itachi jumped down and kept his face calm as Dosu smirked at the two Tomogakure nin. Rei shot Itachi a concerned look, one Itachi didn't bother to soothe. He was going to the Finals.

"Start!"

Itachi knew he couldn't use his Sharingan otherwise not only would his cover be blown but Sasuke and Naruto would go after him and possibly Kazuki if they thought ahead that far.

Rei was weaving seals for a simple water style jutsu and Dosu was simply watching her, not attacking yet. Itachi narrowed his eyes. Most Genin wouldn't wait to assess the situation; they'd attack. He shook this thought off and focused on attacking Dosu after Rei's water jutsu hit Dosu. Dosu quickly sidestepped and jumped into the air with a kunai in his hand, racing towards Rei.

After a moment's hesitation, she pulled out a kunai as well and blocked. Dosu's sleeve lifted as he came down. Rei let out a small cry as her arms had to bear the momentary amount of all his weight and added momentum. Suddenly, a terribly loud sound came from Dosu's arm. Rei fell to her knees, holding her ears and gritting her teeth in pain. After a minute, she lost consciousness.

Itachi felt his heartbeat increase and his ears ring painfully. His vision blurred slightly and he saw Dosu coming at him. He quickly weaved multiple signs. Flames rushed at Dosu, which he twisted away from. After seeing Itachi weave so, so many signs, Dosu found himself surrounded by fire. He unleashed another wave of vertigo-inducing sound waves and saw Itachi fall to the ground, unconscious.

"Hah!" Dosu sneered and kicked Itachi's side. Itachi's body didn't move. It blurred into many crows and Dosu looked around in shock and anger. He pulled back his sleeve and released another wave of sound waves. His ears began to ring painfully and he vomited on the floor.

"W-what?" Dosu glared. The scene shifted and Itachi was standing behind him with a kunai at his neck. His ears didn't stop screaming out in pain, though.

"Genjutsu," Itachi stated and thrust the kunai into Dosu's arms, causing the metal to break as Itachi channeled chakra through the kunai. Dosu screamed out and fell to his knees, barely conscious.

"How?" Dosu asked simply.

Itachi didn't respond. Hayate declared Itachi, or Aki, the winner. Itachi jumped back up to the second floor to see Kazuki giving him a smile. Itachi panted slightly and their Jounin sensei offered water. Itachi took it gratefully and drank half of it as Rei was carried away on a stretcher.

_Round 2: Kazuki (or Haru) vs. Choji vs. Tenten. _

The three opponents jumped down to the arena floor. Kazuki allowed a carefree smile out and jumped into action the moment 'Start!' was uttered. Choji spin into action with his body growing into a huge ball that raced towards the other two ninja indiscriminately.

Tenten dodged and pulled out a scroll and weapons flew out, raining down onto Choji. When he rolled over some of the weapons, his form dispersed, leaving his original body. He saw how kunai and shuriken had embedded themselves into his body. Tears pricked at his eyes and he suppressed a wail. His mind flooded with pain and he could only watch as the two stronger ninja battled.

Ten minutes later, Tenten's scrolls were completely empty and devoid of any seals to unseal and release more ninja tools. She panted hard and threw herself at Kazuki, who kept his taijutsu level moderate. She began to get infuriated.

"Stop playing with me and fight for real!" Tenten screamed, pulling out her last explosive kunai and throwing it at Kazuki. He moved his head an inch and let it hit Choji, who screamed in terror and pain. For a moment, Tenten's attention was diverted to the bleeding and bleating Akimichi.

In this instant, he got behind the kunoichi and had a kunai at her neck.

"I'm afraid if I did Konoha would be rather…distressed," Kazuki said, thoughtfully. "Now, surrender or I'll slit your throat," Kazuki whispered, his kunai pressed harshly against her throat. Glaring at him out of the corner of her eye, she forfeited.

The second bout was over, leaving Kazuki (Haru) as the winner.

_Round 3: Gaara vs. Kankuro vs. Temari._

Gaara glanced at his siblings and gave them a bloodthirsty smile. The three Suna nin jumped down to Hayate and before the Konoha nin could say 'Start!', the Suna nin immediately forfeited. Gaara glared harshly at them with as much hatred as he could muster. They flinched and jumped back up to the safety of their sensei.

_Round 4: Sasuke vs. Shino vs. Zaku_

Sasuke smirked widely as the bug user and Oto nin. Shino frowned as he saw the character 死, death, on his shirt. Shino decided that he wasn't about to die. He was going to win. He glanced at the confident look on Sasuke's face and silently admonished that. That Uchiha was too arrogant because of that Sharingan he has.

"Start!"

Despite Shino's initial thoughts of the Uchiha, he didn't rush in. He seemed to want to know how Zaku's attacks worked. Shino waited as well for Zaku to make the first move. Zaku finally did, rushing at the two Konoha nin and air rushed out making a high pitched sound. Shino covered his ears and dropped to his knees. By doing so, he covered up the movement of his bugs going towards both opponents.

However, Sasuke had activated his Sharingan and saw the bugs going towards him. He didn't want to alert Shino to this, so he acted as if he hadn't seen the bugs and rushed towards Zaku to lure the bugs to him. Zaku turned and saw fire coming towards him at point-blank range. He lifted his arms to blast the Uchiha with air and pain-inducing sound, but he found that he couldn't. He applied more chakra to get them to work, but instead, he found himself screaming as his arms bled out of large holes that air had been forced to come out of.

Shino's bugs had infiltrated his arms and now, pain was coming from his destroyed arms and his burned body. His clothes were on fire and all he could do was scream. Sasuke turned to Shino and grinned. At exceedingly fast speeds, the Uchiha forced the Aburame into a taijutsu fight, one he was destined to lose.

With both of his opponents down, Hayate declared Sasuke to be the winner. Sasuke's face suddenly contorted into pain and Kakashi's eye widened at this. He appeared beside Sasuke and whisked him away

_Round 5: Naruto vs. Kin vs. Kiba_

Naruto was shocked at how cruel Sasuke was. He shook his head, knowing that he had to be just as cruel if he wanted to destroy Kazuki. He jumped down and looked at his two opponents. The girl had long black hair and a confident air. Kiba was the same. Naruto narrowed his eyes and decided he could take advantage of their arrogant attitudes.

"Start!"

Kiba and Kin sprung into action, going for Naruto. Naruto flinched at first, but then brought out a kunai to block their attacks. Kiba's dog began to attack Kin and after eating a food pill Kiba tossed, Akamaru grew bigger and reddish. Kin gasped and was barely managing to fend off the dog with her preferred ninja tool: senbon.

Meanwhile, Kiba and Naruto were fighting a ninjutsu battle. Well, Naruto was using ninjutsu while Kiba was sticking to taijutsu. Naruto saw that the Inuzuka was excellent at taijutsu, but since he wasn't using any ninjutsu, it raised a few questions. Was he not good at it? Did he need Akamaru? Was he low on chakra still from the Forest of Death and couldn't use ninjutsu since maybe all the jutsu he knew required a lot of chakra?

Naruto gritted his teeth and forced these questions to be second priority. The priority now was to beat Kiba. Suddenly, Kiba's foot connected with Naruto's face and he went flying into the wall. Cracks ran into the concrete from around the blonde. Kiba smirked and began to berate him.

"What's wrong? The village pariah angry? 'Cause you're an orphan and you'll never be as good as Yondaime-sama or Kazuki-sama is? That's just too bad. Don't be so sad, I'll kill you right here and now!" Kiba laughed and twirled a kunai around his finger.

Suddenly, the room was filled with waves of ominous chakra. Naruto's features warped into furious ones with his whisker marks darkened and his eyes turned a demonic red with black slits. His teeth and nails elongated and he let out a feral growl.

"Don't you dare talk to me like you know me! You know nothing! That Kazuki is the one who killed by family! I'm going to kill him!" Naruto yelled. His figure suddenly disappeared and reappeared behind Kiba. The color drained from the Inuzuka's face and he was sent flying through the air only to be hit again and again, caught in midair and flung through the air. Finally, a kick to his chest that broke even more bones sent him spiraling to the floor, making huge cracks.

With his master down, Akamaru ran to his side and hid his tail between his legs as he felt the terrible chakra coming from Naruto. Kin threw senbon at him arrogantly and found the results to be extremely painful and soon, she heard a female scream and her vision became dark and she slipped out of consciousness.

"Winner: Uzumaki Naruto."

_Round 6: Hinata vs. Sakura vs. Ino_

In the Academy, Naruto had been a loser in the first year. However, once he had gotten his act together, he flourished with Sasuke at his side for the next six years in the Academy. Hinata saw this and decided she had to be stronger as well. The one strange thing she noticed was that soon after Itachi and Kazuki's defection, Neji had stopped glaring at her. He even said yes when she asked for his help with training.

She looked at her two opponents and was shocked as she saw that they were glaring so harshly at one another. When Hayate said start, the two girls began to fight, leaving Hinata to simply watch. She could see the two girls had quite a bit of animosity towards one another and on a whim (more like an urge) she left the two alone.

Eventually, the girls knocked each other out and Hinata was left as the winner by default.

_Round 7: Neji vs. Lee vs. Shikamaru_

Shikamaru let out air that he'd sucked in between his teeth in a low hiss. He saw that the Hyuuga and green idiot were going to probably fight just like Hinata and Ino and Sakura had. He honestly didn't want to work any harder and since neither Choji nor Ino were going to the Finals, he saw no point in going either. There was always the next biannual Chuunin Exams.

"I give up," Shikamaru drawled. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Asuma facepalm. Shikamaru let out a long-suffering sigh and walked slowly back up to Asuma. Hayate's eye twitched and said, "Start!"

Neji and Lee sprung into action. Lee babbled about finally being able to be in Neji's range and still not be downed. Neji frowned and reminded him that if he was within range, he was most likely to be hit and then therefore disqualified. Lee grinned and repeated 'most likely'.

Neji sighed and rushed at the green idiot, easily blocking his tenketsu and taking down his teammate. He stood over Lee and saw that Lee didn't want to give up, but his body, tired from the Forest of Death (they'd had to cover for Team 7's downed members), wasn't at top shape to last much of a chance against the Hyuuga.

"Winner: Hyuuga Neji."

So after three hours, the winners included Hinata, Itachi, Kazuki, Naruto, Sasuke, Gaara, and Neji.

They were given a month to prepare for the Final Round, when the majority of Konoha, feudal lords, and other dignitaries would be watching. Kazuki and Itachi had felt the anxiety of the Chuunin Exams and in a hostile nation at that, so they were not worried in the slightest. Plus, they were nuke-nin.

The thing they were worried about was the strange mark on Sasuke's neck and the fact Naruto had reverted to use the Kyuubi's power. Also, a strange and ominous Oto Jounin had he eyed Sasuke, making Itachi furious.

Still, it was hard not to indulge on the simple things they'd missed for the last five years.

They walked through the village at a slow pace, taking in the sights and sounds of their home village. As the sun was setting, a peaceful feeling was set over the village. With stomachs content with dango and tea, the two walked to the cemetery and paid their respects to the killed Uchiha. Itachi stood with a blank look that Kazuki easily read as a mixture of grieving and anger. Kazuki knew that the anger wasn't towards himself, it was towards his clan.

Then, they made their way to Kazuki's parent's graves. Kazuki knew only his mother was buried here. His father was buried, or more likely cremated, elsewhere. Kazuki stuffed his hands in his pockets and bit his lip. Itachi placed a hand on his shoulder.

"There you are!" Naruto came running up to them with a carefree smile. Kazuki turned around slowly and his henge brown eyes looked shot with surprise and guilt as they settled on the bright blue eyes of his younger brother. Naruto let out a smile Kazuki knew to be his father's and let out a soft smile.

"What's up?" Kazuki asked.

"Oh, you're here? What for?" Naruto looked at the graves.

"I'm paying my respects," Kazuki answered honestly. _So that Kaa-san or Tou-san won't kill me in the afterlife._

"Bah, they're already dead! Let's get ramen," Naruto said.

"But…what about your friend? Or the girl over there?" Kazuki asked, sensing Hinata's chakra.

"What girl?" Naruto turned around and saw Hinata shyly come out from behind a tree.

"Hinata?" Naruto's breath hitched. "You look…" _Pretty._

"N-Naruto-kun…they l-look busy. I-I can go for r-ramen if y-you want," Hinata squeaked, surprising herself so much that she'd actually said it.

"Really?" Naruto asked. Kazuki placed a warm hand on his shoulder and whispered in his ear, "Go on. She has the courage to ask a strong kid like you out so you have to deliver too."

Naruto nodded blissfully and walked off the Hyuuga heiress.

Kazuki turned back the graves and Itachi began to think about Sasuke and whether or not he liked any girls. He hoped he could find one for Sasuke like Kazuki had with Naruto. Then again, Sasuke was never that kind of person to attach himself to people, except for Naruto. He sighed. And that bond was both friendship and revenge.

Kazuki's lips quirked up in a smile.

"Did you see that? Maybe you can't kill me in the afterlife so soon, Kaa-san," Kazuki ran a hand through his henge black hair.


	7. Inn

Summary: What if Minato and Kushina had two children? What if one of them was Itachi's age and just as skilled? How would it affect the one born under his father's shadow and one under the Kyuubi's shadow? Read to find out.

* * *

><p>Kazuki found that if he slid down the wall of the shower and let the water rush over his head, his scalp would eventually become numb and his hearing filled with the <em>shhhhhhh<em> should of the water hitting his head and running down his face and ears. It was rather soothing.

Another purpose this could serve was what if he wanted to gouge out his brain to commit suicide, he'd be less likely to feel it because his scalp and head were numb. His hands shook as he stood and turned off the water. After grabbing a towel and drying himself off, he ran into Itachi in the hallway with only a towel covering his lower half.

Itachi said nothing and stepped into his room. He didn't close the door; he could see that Kazuki had something on his mind.

Once Kazuki had dressed into nightwear consisting of off-white clothes covered with thickly draw and complicated kanji characters. The buttons were black along with the edge of the collar, cuffs, bottom hem, and pant cuffs.

"What was on your mind?" Itachi asked, laying back on his futon.

"Suicide," Kazuki answered honestly.

"Don't be stupid," Itachi said, closing his eyes.

Kazuki sighed. He lay down on the floor next to Itachi and stretched out his hand into the darkness, barely able to see the faint outlines of his hand. He made a fist and let it fall back down to his chest with a thud.

"You're tired. Go to sleep," Itachi said and rolled over. Kazuki nodded as he swayed to his feet and closed Itachi's door behind him. It took all of five steps to get to his room and he closed the door behind himself and leaned against it. Once again, he slid down and bit his lip.

The sounds of the shower were coming back and eventually, he found himself falling asleep. Determined not to sleep, he crawled over to his kotatsu but didn't turn on the flame. With his favorite kind of lamp, andon, he placed it on the table and wet the ink stone, smoothed and held down a sheet of paper with two thin but heavy blocks of metal and picked his best brush.

Words didn't initially flow out of his mind and hand. When he finally found the right words, he was writing them down in a rush and by the time he had finished with small, neat handwriting filling up the page, morning was coming. He stood and rubbed his eyes.

The ink had long dried and he folded it and put it the pocket of his Akatsuki cloak. He changed into it and walked into the kitchen and began to boil water for tea. As the water was approaching 100 C, he stared at the intricate design courtesy of an abalone shell's opaque color. He picked a plain ceramic cup and poured the hot water with tealeaves and allowed it to steep.

"Didn't expect _you_ to be here," Deidara sneered. Kazuki looked away, not really wanting to talk to the volatile teen. The blonde was probably two, three at most, years younger than him. Deidara made himself coffee and added milk and five sugar cubes. He stirred until it became frothy on top. Kazuki drank his with no sugar or milk. But it wasn't like he'd ever put milk into matcha tea.

"I hear that village of yours got destroyed yesterday. Again," Deidara said. Kazuki couldn't tell if he was trying to make conversation or trying to annoy him. Kazuki decided to take the former option, knowing that if he ignored the blonde any longer he would be on the floor with chakra chains asphyxiating him.

"Did it?" Kazuki sipped his tea. The bitterness was barely there after drinking the matcha for nearly six years almost every morning.

"Yeah, that traitor Orochimaru and Suna destroyed Konoha. But the damned jinchuuriki took down the Ichibi. Him and that Uchiha. It was very interesting to watch," Deidara grinned as the extremely sweet coffee hit his tongue.

Kazuki nodded and Deidara scowled. It wasn't working! He could never seem to get those two Konoha stones to react! All they did was respond just for the sake of responding! Infuriating!

Before Deidara could say something nasty, Itachi walked into the kitchen and made himself a cup of matcha tea and sat next to Kazuki, looking at Deidara with a calm face, but his eyes shone with something akin to amusement. Deidara glared as harshly as he could and the two former Konoha ninja seemed to have a silent conversation just between the two of them.

Kazuki and Itachi stood as Pein came into the room, his purple eyes piercing. Deidara had lost the ability to care about the kind of respect he was supposed to give their Leader. Pein didn't care about Deidara's insubordination; he only cared for his kekkei genkai and usefulness when it came to accomplishing orders.

"You two have proved yourself competent in gathering necessary information. I want you two to go back to Konoha and get the Kyuubi jinchuuriki today," Pein said.

"Hai," the two seventeen year olds said and went out of the Akatsuki base.

* * *

><p>With their wide-brimming hats and black and red cloaks swaying in the wind, they took a good look at what the snake Sannin had done to their village. According to whispers carried by the wind (really, by Reiko) the Sandaime was dead and Konoha was struggling to get another Hokage.<p>

If Kazuki had left Itachi to be alone in the Akatsuki ranks and had never 'betrayed' the village, he would've probably been elected Hokage at this point. Kazuki shivered at this realization. For one, it was a lot of work (case and point: his father staying late) and two; Naruto would be hated more for wanting to kill Kazuki, the Hokage.

Kazuki began to think about another possibility. Perhaps if he was Hokage he could summon the courage to tell Naruto the truth and maybe, just maybe, Naruto wouldn't hate him. Maybe Naruto would become an even greater ninja.

He shook his head. Naruto was never that kind of child to begin with. His mind was set on killing Kazuki and claiming the title of Hokage and Kazuki severely doubted the possibility of him changing his mind at all.

Itachi pulled him through the village and Kazuki found himself eating a stick of dango and sipping more matcha tea. Leaning against the frame of the dango shop was Hatake Kakashi, who was greeting two other Jounin. After the two Jounin questioned Kakashi's presence, he revealed that _Sasuke_ was going to meet him here.

Itachi's eyes narrowed his finger on the cup shifted slightly. They two nuke-nin locked eyes for a moment.

"Kakashi-sensei, it's unusual for you to be here early," Sasuke said. Kakashi sent a silent message to Kurenai and Asuma, who disappeared to chase after the two teens. Sasuke frowned as the air displaced with two Jounin and Chuunin gone suddenly.

"You're not from this village, are you?" Asuma asked, gripping a kunai as he examined the two cloaked figures. "Why did you come here?"

"It's been a while, Asuma-san."

"Kurenai-san."

"If you know us, then you must be former ninja of this village. If I had to guess, I'd say you two are Uchiha Itachi, murderer of his clan and Namikaze Kazuki, son of the Yondaime Hokage," Asuma narrowed his eyes. "For nearly six years, I've wondered: why, Kazuki? Why did you betray the village Minato tried to hard to protect?"

"Asuma-san, Kurenai-san, please don't get involved with either of our work," Itachi said. "I have no intention of killing either of you."

"Heh! Says the guy who killed his clan," Asuma sneered.

"It looks like we can't get out of the village without a fight," Kazuki noted, bringing out his sword. Itachi nodded and the fight began.

Itachi and Kurenai briefly fought with genjutsu; Kurenai used a powerful genjutsu only to find the Uchiha, a master at genjutsu, had already countered her the moment she started her genjutsu. Then, she was harshly roundhouse kicked into the canal below.

With Asuma and Kazuki, he'd brought out his wind chakra infused blades, hardly keeping up with the strange stance and moves Kazuki had with his sword. The sword almost seemed to shimmer and had an afterimage and sometimes he'd parry only to find that the blade had already sunk into his shoulder. Wincing in pain, Asuma forced more chakra out, letting bursts of chakra wash over everyone in the vicinity. Kazuki once more took a starting position with the sword poised horizontally at level with his blue eyes. He rushed at Asuma and suddenly fire followed the blade.  
>Asuma fell to the ground as his hand was badly burned. It turned grey almost immediately and as pain flooded his senses, he barely registered Kazuki being blocked by Kakashi.<p>

"Fire Style: Searing Flames!" Kazuki yelled as fire swept the area and it made Kakashi wince even as he was copying the jutsu. He noticed that it took a lot of chakra to convert the flames not to an orange color, but to a blue color. It was the hottest flame that could be attained and Kakashi felt more drained than using the Shadow Clone he was using with Itachi and Kurenai as they were on the canal's waters.

"That jutsu…" Kakashi panted, hard.

Kazuki smirked. He was about to stab Kakashi, but Itachi's clear voice stopped him.

"Don't forget our purpose. You didn't come here to get hurt," Itachi chided. Kazuki nodded and sheathed his sword. His body shimmered before it reappeared next to Itachi.

"Then tell us why you came," Kakashi said, gripping a kunai.

"We came to find something we're looking for," Kazuki replied smoothly.

"What are you looking for?" Kakashi brought out his kunai in a direct threat. Itachi didn't care.

Itachi and Kakashi mildly clashed with water jutsu and shuriken, ending with the three Jounin to be soaked in water that had been displaced upwards and fell like rain. Kazuki watched them carefully.

"Don't let your guard down. Itachi became ANBU Squad Leader at 13. And watch out for Kazuki; he's got a—" Kakashi was suddenly cut off by chakra chains suddenly growing on him and wrapping around his body.

"Thank you, Kazuki," Itachi nodded to Kazuki. This time, the chains didn't try to kill Kakashi. The genjutsu Itachi had just placed on Kakashi did. Almost.

"I'm surprised you didn't die, Kakashi-senpai. However, Itachi, it's dangerous if you use your Mangekyo Sharingan too much. Be careful," Kazuki warned.

"Is Sasuke what you're looking for?" Kakashi managed to get out as the chakra chains retreated.

"No, we're after the Yondaime Hokage's legacy," Kazuki answered, sensing Itachi's anger level spike.

"Naruto…huh?" Kakashi said. "Your own brother…unbelievable. You're after the Kyuubi your father sealed, aren't you?"

"I can see why you were Tou-san favorite student, Kakashi-senpai. You're smart. But, Obito was honestly Kaa-san's favorite. But like that matters, since they're just idiots who killed themselves to save this rotting village," Kazuki said.

"Have you forgotten them? Have you forgotten your brother? Have you forgotten everything about them and what they stood for? Did you not love them?" Kakashi asked.

"Itachi, ANBU are coming. We need to leave unless we want to start a war," Kazuki turned to his friend.

"Yeah," Itachi and Kazuki turned and began their retreat out of the village.

Once Itachi and Kazuki were gone, Asuma and Kurenai opened their eyes and carried Kakashi to his apartment.

* * *

><p>Naruto and Jiraiya were already out of the village, on a 'research' trip. What that really meant to Jiraiya was to drop Naruto in a hotel room to ogle at women. Naruto honestly wanted no part in this kind of behavior. It wasn't like he disliked seeing curvy girls, he just didn't want to <em>right now.<em>

He wanted to train.

_Knock. _

Naruto hopped off the bed and got excited. Maybe Jiraiya really prioritized properly; maybe he wanted to train Naruto instead of hanging around women! Naruto grinned a little more and opened the door.

His smile faded as he saw a man with the same eyes as Sasuke…the Sharingan. The man said something about coming with him. Naruto saw another person behind him, but he couldn't see his face because of a big hat.

"You've grown."

Naruto gasped, somehow recognizing the voice. He knew that voice…but where? Who?

"Itachi, it would be troublesome if he were to try anything. Should I cut off a hand?" the other guy asked, his form shifting a little, unsheathing his sword. Naruto briefly saw his reflection in it and gulped. His face was beginning to be etched with fear and he took a tentative step back.

"It's been awhile, you two," Kazuki turned to look at Sasuke, who stood, panting.

"Who're you?" Sasuke asked, his Sharingan blazing to life. "I don't recognize your chakra."

"Oh? Well, perhaps the two of you will remember my face," Kazuki said, taking off his hat while simultaneously restraining Naruto with chakra chains. Naruto let out a small scream.

"Don't you dare touch him!" Sasuke's hand began to glow and chirp with lightning. Kazuki's lips quirked up in amusement. _The Chidori. _

Sasuke charged at Itachi, yelling, 'Die!' and suddenly, a huge explosion rang out with Sasuke's wrist in Itachi's grasp, clearly having been diverted. Naruto watched in shock at how easily Sasuke's attack had been avoided. He glanced at Kazuki and decided that Kazuki was probably the same, considering he was with Itachi.

Naruto had enough space to move his arms to form a seal with his hands, a simple one. Kazuki easily identified it as the Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu. Sasuke tried to get out of Itachi's grasp, only to feel his left wrist break. He screamed and fell to his knees, shaking in pain.

Naruto's chakra suddenly changed to emit a reddish color. Kazuki frowned and took out a seal from his pocket. He applied it to Naruto's arm and Naruto felt his Kyuubi chakra drain into the seal. He tried to rip it off, only to find that when he did, it caused his skin to burn. When Naruto looked as if he were about to pass out, Kazuki tugged the seal off with no problem.

"You're annoying," Kazuki stated simply to his brother as he pulled out his sword and got into a position to slice off a hand.

"Don't…" Sasuke murmured.

Kazuki ignored him and readied himself to slice easily through skin, flesh, and bone.  
>Before he could, however, a large puff of smoke wafted out. Kazuki narrowed his eyes as a man began to speak.<p>

"It seems you two don't know me as well as you should; I'm better at winning a girl over than being seduced by one. I wouldn't let a woman seduce me with her beauty. When you become great like me, women will go crazy over you. Well, Kazuki, I guess with your father's looks, you already know they'll go crazy over you," Jiraiya lectured thoughtfully. Kazuki undid the chakra chains but didn't sheathe his sword. "Oh, what would your mother say if she were here? Heh, I bet she'd kick my ass for saying that."

"I have no idea why you all keep talking about worthless people. However, that is none of my concern," Kazuki said evenly. "It looks like you finally dispelled my genjutsu, though."

"You're a disgrace to all men, using your jutsu to hypnotize a woman to separate me from Naruto. You're here to get the Kyuubi, aren't you?" Jiraiya's face turned serious.

"No wonder Kakashi-san knew, Jiraiya-sama," Itachi sighed.

"It is an urgent order from our organization to take Naruto with us," Kazuki explained.

"I can't do that. Wouldn't it be counterintuitive to do so, considering he's your—" Jiraiya was cut off by Kazuki's sword suddenly at his neck. Jiraiya's pupils dilated and he let out a hearty laugh.

"Please do not get involved with our affairs, Jiraiya-sama," Kazuki chided. "Unless you'd like to lose not just your life."

"That's it. You're not Minato's son. I thought I could bring the cute little kid who loved his parents and village back, but I guess it wasn't to be. Itachi's murderous and detestable ways have stained you. I'll do Minato and Mikoto one last favor: I'll kill you both," Jiraiya said.

"Don't interfere," Sasuke growled, swaying to his feet, his eyes black before they returned to be blood red.

"I have no interest in you," Itachi said as he kicked Sasuke to the other side of the space, hitting a wall after the Genin charged at him.

"Sasuke!" Naruto yelled. He turned to see the one person in his way from his friend: Kazuki. He attempted to kick the S-Rank shinobi, but he found that Kazuki had grabbed that ankle and slammed him against the wall. The breath was knocked out of Naruto, leaving him to be a gasping and wheezing mess. However, Kazuki didn't stop there; he punched Naruto in the stomach and let him fall to the ground. Jiraiya watched as Itachi placed Sasuke under a genjutsu, eliciting a scream from the younger Uchiha.

"The reason of why you can't beat me is because you don't have enough hate. And you know what? You never will," Kazuki said, glaring down at his brother.

Meanwhile, Sasuke screamed. His screams echoed only his helpless suffering and Naruto couldn't take it. He shook as he righted himself and suddenly ran towards Itachi. Kazuki was about to catch him when the walls began to change into a fleshy and warm…thing.

Kazuki looked around and drew a blank. He turned to Jiraiya with an expression that read, 'Tell me what this is.'

"You're trapped in the stomach of a frog. You can't escape now," Jiraiya smirked. Itachi let go of Sasuke's neck as the frog's intestinal walls pulled Sasuke inward. Itachi held his hand against his chest in an almost disgusted way and turned to Kazuki.

"Kazuki, come," Itachi said. Kazuki nodded and followed Itachi's lead to run out of the stomach walls, still conveniently in the shape of the inn's hallways. Jiraiya taunted them, saying how no one had ever escaped, but that had never, nor will, stop Uchiha Itachi and Namikaze Kazuki. Black flames appeared on a dead end and they burned a hole into the wall leading to the outside world. Jiraiya frowned distastefully and let go of his stomach summon. It retreated back into the walls and the inn went back to normal, except for the cracks in the walls and the obliteration of a part of a room thanks to Sasuke's diverted Chidori.

Gai arrived and took Sasuke back to Konoha after nearly landing a blow on Jiraiya's face. Meanwhile, the Sannin and blonde Genin looked for Tsunade, slated to be the next Hokage.

* * *

><p>"Are you okay?" Kazuki asked as the two were making their way back to the Akatsuki base.<p>

"Yeah. I realized something: there is no need to push those two at their current level. Also, I need to rest somewhere," Itachi said, his eyes having already faded to black and fatigue marred his face.

Kazuki knew he was sick already, but he had no intention of seeking higher help than his medication. Kazuki knew he'd die with his secrets and joy of knowing his brother would never know his sorrow and truth. Well, depending on one's point of view, it could be seen as a lie as well.

He hated knowing his best friend would die, but Itachi insisted on going on like this. It was for Sasuke's sake. Kazuki bit his lip in regret. He knew that if they switched places, he'd do the same thing. And Itachi would probably do the same things he did.

They managed to find another inn nearby and Itachi was out of it the moment he could. Kazuki sighed. He was always like this; tired but never admitting it until he was out cold and when he'd wake up, he'd act as if he were never tired. But Kazuki knew that he was always tired. The two agreed they were tired of being tired and tired of living out in their insufferable and unforgiving lives. But, at least, they said, their brothers would outlive them, proud.

Kazuki took out his fuuinjutsu scrolls and studied very advanced seals. As he was reading and taking notes on a different scroll he came across the Hakke Fuuin. He read it more thoroughly; he found that this seal could be used to seal large amounts of chakra that couldn't be sealed using other, weaker, seals. Kazuki wondered just how much chakra it could hold when a handwritten note on the bottom made reference to a jinchuuriki. Kazuki stared at the handwriting and to his horror; he found that it was his father's handwriting.

He unfurled part of the scroll in one hand and rolled it up with another so that it would be out of view and he'd be moving on, just as one would turn a page in a book. The next seal was a rather nasty one; one could touch another person on the chest after making a wound with their blood seeping out in the shape of a five-pointed star along with multiple kanji in each of the triangles drawn in ink, imbue chakra in the star until it glowed, and take the air out of the person, effectively killing them. This required vast amounts of chakra and precision. The incision had to be exactly a centimeter and the person that you were taking the air out had to be alive with no other major wounds, like a gash on their side or a missing arm.

Kazuki sweatdropped and moved on. The next seal was rather strange. Its main purpose was to cause a person to explode from the inside. It required a natural affinity for fire and wind. On the side it said that it needed an affinity for water jutsu, but you could have someone else help as well or use a scroll to release the water jutsu that you have to also infuse your chakra with thoroughly.

He put the scroll down and looked out the window. It was much more peaceful to look out to see the rolling hills dotted with the occasional rice field.

He shook his head and turned back to the scroll. _I have to study_. The final seal he decided to study was a seal that allowed memory transfer of certain memories. It could also be done in reverse, but in order for the jutsu caster to not die from the effects of the seal, only some memories could be taken. Kazuki read more, wanting to know if he could take _all_ the memories, or vice versa, but it only offered the words that basically said that if one wanted to take or receive all the memories, a sacrifice was necessary. Kazuki sighed and rolled both scrolls back up and sealed them back into another scroll, a scroll sealed with a blood seal. Meaning, this scroll could only be opened with Kazuki's blood.

Kazuki ordered some tempura over rice and ate it, all the meanwhile watching Itachi sleep with some sense of calm. Itachi always did this whenever Kazuki was around; Kazuki was the only one who would never try anything or try to kill him.

Once he was done he let out a content hum. Even though he was asleep, Itachi seemed to smile a little. Kazuki smiled back and stared out at the now starry sky.


	8. Twist

Summary: What if Minato and Kushina had two children? What if one of them was Itachi's age and just as skilled? How would it affect the one born under his father's shadow and one under the Kyuubi's shadow? Read to find out.

* * *

><p>Kazuki sipped his tea and put the cup down. He ate a sakura mochi filled with koshi-an, smooth red bean paste to balance out the bitterness. As he flipped another page of his book, he reached for the cup, only for it to shatter. Kazuki frowned and cleaned up the hot water and ceramic mess after he set his book aside.<p>

"Kazuki, come with me," Tobi said. Kazuki nodded and was sucked into his eye and deposited in a room barely lit with a candle. Kazuki's eyes adjusted and he saw Sasuke sitting with an expressionless face, tied up.

"Kazuki, is it true?" Sasuke asked desperately.  
>"What is?" Kazuki raised a brow, wondering if Sasuke was trying to get him to lower his guard by acting nonthreatening.<p>

"That Nii-san and you sacrificed yourselves for the village's sake? That the Uchiha were planning a coup? That you're Naruto's brother? That you truly loved him but acted to hate him to protect him?" the sixteen-year-old asked, his black eyes pleading.

"Tobi, we had a deal," Kazuki said, his voice rising with anger. "_You promised you wouldn't tell anyone anything! Sasuke and Naruto were part of the deal!" _Kazuki's blue eyes flashed with murderous rage.

"That's where you're wrong. _Itachi_ had a deal. You simply agreed; you didn't state any conditions since Itachi stated them for you. Now that he's dead, I'm free to do what I wish, including tell what I want to anyone," Tobi corrected.

"He's dead?" Kazuki asked, his blue eyes looking shot. Sasuke nodded somberly.

He closed his eyes and let out a long sigh. _Keep it together. You can't cry now; you can cry later. Itachi…_

"Yeah," Kazuki looked at Sasuke, his eyes hardened to keep the tears in. "Now that you know everything, what are you planning to do?" Kazuki narrowed his eyes at the Uchiha, whose thoughts easily flashed across his face.

"I'm going to kill Danzo. He ordered Nii-san to do kill my clan, right?" Sasuke asked as Tobi released him from his binds. Sasuke stood and stretched a little, his eyes an angry red with three tomoe. Kazuki eyes softened a little.

"Will you help me take him down?" Sasuke asked, his voice angry. Kazuki closed his eyes slowly and Sasuke took that as a 'yes'. Sasuke thanked him and the three ascended to a rocky shore. If Itachi were here, Kazuki would've said something about the prettiness of it and if he wanted a ink painting of it or not. Kazuki looked up at the sky and decided Itachi would've said yes.

Kazuki looked at Sasuke and then at his own hands. Even though he couldn't see it, he knew his hands were stained with blood. They were stained with failures and wrongdoings. Kazuki stuffed them in his pockets. _They're already stained. I've got nothing else to lose since Itachi is dead and Naruto is safe with Konoha and his comrades._

Sasuke turned and glanced at Kazuki. "You're the only one who truly knew how Itachi was. Because you have those memories, I'm not going to kill you; I'll follow any order you have if you follow any of mine."

Tobi told the two to get the Hachibi after he handed Sasuke an Akatsuki cloak. Sasuke smirked as he slipped it on. He jerked his head in the direction of Kumo and Kazuki nodded, following.

Kazuki could sense and see on Sasuke's face that the teen wanted to talk. Kazuki wasn't about to initiate a conversation unless Sasuke did, since he was the one who wanted to talk. Kazuki also had a pretty good idea of what he was going to ask and he really had no intention of talking about his dead friend.

Hours passed of the two going at top speed in silence. Kazuki could see the Uchiha was getting more and more uncomfortable and couldn't care less. A day later, at daybreak, they arrived at Kumo. After easily getting information from an unsuspecting Kumo nin, they found the training area where the Hachibi's jinchuuriki was.

As Sasuke distracted B, Kazuki set up a high-level seal to keep B inside the seal so that he wouldn't get out so easily. The seal was set in a sixteen-sided shape and at each corner there were two slips of paper, each two meters by one meter long. One paper was for keeping the seal stable and the other was for sucking up chakra should the Hachibi's chakra be trying to overload the seal, which would cause it to break. So, the second slip was like a circuit breaker.

Kazuki kept a Shadow Clone in the shadows should anything go wrong or if they needed help. Kazuki turned to help Sasuke and ran to block an attack that would've killed the Uchiha. Kazuki brought out his sword fully and stepped into a stance B had never seen before.

"Who are you? With that red hair and blue eyes, I'd say you're—"

"Shut up!" Sasuke yelled as he came whirling back around with his sword. B easily blocked him only to have Kazuki's strange and unpredictable style to battle. It took all of his power to make sure he didn't have a leg or hand cut off. B realized he needed to stop playing around and change places with Gyuuki.

As Sasuke managed to get B's attention back to him, Kazuki unfurled a scroll and let his chakra chains fly towards the jinchuuriki. Kazuki didn't trust his sixteen-sided seal after all because he sensed unbelievable power from it. He doubted that it would be enough alone, so as the sixteen seals sucked up fractions of his power, Kazuki channeled the power from the chains to himself to the scroll after biting his thumb to make a more direct contact.

B noticed that Kazuki was sealing his power into a scroll and sixteen other seals so he figured that he needed to shock the young man.

As B sent poisonous chakra down the chains, Sasuke unleashed black flames to burn the octopus thing. Kazuki's body shook violently as the chakra passed through him. B was convinced the man would fall over, but all Kazuki did was cough up blood and clench his fists until his knuckles turned white. B's eyes widened, as Kazuki didn't suffer more serious effects. Gyuuki dealt with the black flames by replacing the area of burn with a tentacle and let it fall to the ground.

_Gyuuki, how is he not dead?_ B asked in his mind.

**_Because he's probably been conditioned with another Bijuu. He's got a tolerance level of Bijuu chakra that's really high!_**

_So, what do we do? _

**_I've got an idea. You and I are going to let the rest of my body go as a clone while we, the real ones, are in a tentacle that I'm going to cut off._**

_Thank you!_

Gyuuki promptly cut off a tentacle and as Sasuke unleashed another wave of black flames. Kazuki panted hard and fell over; the only thing he could do was breathe. Through tired blue eyes he watched as Gyuuki's form reverted back into an unconscious body of B. Kazuki's clone came out of the bushes and took B from the fatigued Uchiha. Kazuki shakily stood and asked Sasuke to collect the seals. Sasuke nodded as Kazuki held out the scroll for the seals to dissolve into, making a large pool of Hachibi chakra.

Once everything was done, the two set back to the Akatsuki base.

The two came back a day later having rested at an inn to allow their bodies to recover from the battle that severely depleted their chakra reserves.

"It's a clone," Tobi said, his voice edged with disappointment. "Even so, a piece is sufficient."

"Pein is going to attack Konoha as we speak to get the Kyuubi. You two can go, if you want," Tobi said.

* * *

><p>Kazuki had decided to go. With his hat on and one hand hanging out of the front of the cloak, he walked calmly through the gates. Screams and explosions rang out. Kazuki realized that this scene was awfully nostalgic. Sixteen years ago, when the Kyuubi's attack came, it was just like this, except it was night back then.<p>

Kazuki walked through calmly, watching with mild interest as shinobi were being slaughtered, and this time, it wasn't necessarily his fault. A small thought occurred to him: if Pein's Shinra Tensei attack were to be used, he might want to protect his old home. He didn't know why he wanted to, he just did. So, he sent a clone off to strengthen the seal around the house.

Kazuki looked ahead and saw the Hokage tower and decided it would be a great vantage point to watch from. He jumped across rooftops and with a backflip just for effect, he landed silently on the Hokage tower. Tsunade flinched as Kazuki suddenly appeared.

"Before you try to rip my head off, I'm only here to watch," Kazuki said, his elbows leaning on the railing and his hands supporting his chin. Overall, his posture was nonchalant and nonthreatening.

Tsunade blinked and recognized him finally. She narrowed her eyes. "You know, I've always wondered why you betrayed Konoha. Minato and Kushina loved you so much and then seven years later, you aid the Uchiha Massacre. What happened to you?"

"I'm not about to tell you my sob story," Kazuki said boredly. "I'm here to watch. Unless you'd like for me to assist my colleague in killing the citizens of Konoha, you're going to leave me alone." Kazuki's blue eyes moved to look at her out of the corners of his eyes with anger flashing in them. Tsunade pursed her lips and summoned Katsuyu to help heal those injured.

"You're not going to do anything? Not even search for Naruto? Isn't he what you're after?" Tsunade asked, leaning against the railing but not lowering her guard.

"He isn't here. That's obvious," Kazuki said. "Pein hasn't come to me, asking me if Naruto is here or not so I'm not going to talk."

"You Akatsuki members travel in twos. According to Jiraiya, your partner was Itachi. Why isn't he here?" Tsunade asked.

"I thought I told you to leave me alone," Kazuki said calmly, as if ever patient. The truth was, neither him nor Itachi were patient. Not in the slightest. Kazuki looked up as Pein's figure rose high into the sky. _Here it comes. _Kazuki disappeared to the top of the Yondaime Hokage's head and watched as the village was obliterated with Pein at the epicenter.

A few moments later, a puff of smoke appeared in the epicenter. Large frog summons were more visible once the smoke cleared and Naruto began to beat several of the Paths until only one remained.

Kazuki let out a soft chuckle as Hinata stepped in front of Naruto to protect him. He knew that even the Hyuuga heiress couldn't beat Pein, but it was worth a shot. As Hinata was falling headfirst towards the ground, Naruto's eyes widened. Kazuki debated whether or not to help.

He shook his head. Pein would probably easily beat his ass in a battle and Naruto would make a fuss of why he was here and try to kill him and then be captured because he wasn't focusing on the true enemy: Pein.

Suddenly, Naruto's seal loosened tremendously. The ground shook and rippled with raw power as Pein lured him out of the village slowly. Kazuki jumped down to Hinata and took out a seal that, among other things, had iryo-ninjutsu in it. He set the girl onto the center of the scroll and activated the seal. It glowed the usual green and Kazuki stopped once she regained consciousness and she didn't seem to be in so much pain.

"Why did you help me?" Hinata asked, surprised she didn't stutter.

"It's a long story. However, I'll let you come to your own conclusion. You and Naruto like one another and if you have no ties to me, then Naruto does. Of about what kind of tie, I'll let you figure that out," Kazuki said, his eyes looking on as rocks rose into the sky, growing in size. Kazuki's eyes widened in shock and fear as the Kyuubi was almost visible. All that was missing was its orange-reddish fur.

"Is that the Kyuubi?" Hinata asked with her Byakugan activated. "So much chakra…"

"Tou-san's seal has broken. Let's hope it had some kind of failsafe plan in it," Kazuki said.

"Don't you have a kekkei genkai? Naruto-kun said that you did once…" Hinata said, her eyes looking at him.

"I do. Pein would've killed me if I'd defied orders and judging from this, Naruto isn't strong enough to protect himself from the Kyuubi. I can't die yet. Once Naruto and Sasuke are strong enough on their own, I won't have to stick around," Kazuki said.

"Sasuke? You know him?" Hinata asked.

"Uchiha Itachi was my best friend. I've got to protect Sasuke too. It'll be my final act of gratitude towards him," Kazuki turned to her and cocked his head. "You're a strange girl. I'm telling you things I'd never say. I've got to look into this."

"I…I won't tell anyone what you said, if that's what you want. I think I've come to a conclusion: if you want to protect Naruto, which means he's important to you. Is he a distant relative, or a friend? But…your eyes are the same color and your chakra is almost identical," Hinata frowned. Her eyes widened comically again.

"Naruto and Sasuke are alike in more ways than you think. Revenge on certain people, for example," Kazuki said. He looked up and saw Kakashi carrying Naruto. He picked Hinata up with one arm and put the scroll away with the other. Green lights swirled above the village and Kazuki disregarded them, not caring anymore.

After a few minutes, they disappeared into the bodies of shinobi.

As Naruto was being thrown up and down, he set Hinata down and she thanked him and took a few steps forward.

Kazuki jumped out of sight to the cliff where Kakashi and Naruto had emerged. Kakashi was still standing there, looking shocked to see him.

"Kazuki," Kakashi pulled out a kunai and pulled up his hitai-ate to reveal his Sharingan.

"Kakashi-san, do you hear that?" Kazuki turned his head to look into the forest.

_Naruto? Kazuki? Kakashi?_

_Anyone?_

_Please!_

Kakashi's eyes widened and ran into the forest with Kazuki. In a small area where there was sunlight and grass was a person laying on the ground, his clothes dirty and his body looking frail, but not old. He looked starved, to say the least.

"M-Minato-sensei?" Kakashi asked in disbelief.

"Kakashi, is that you? You look…mature," Minato said, looking for the right words. "Where is Kazuki? He's not too old, is he?"

"Kazuki?" Kakashi turned and saw that he was gone. "Kazuki!"

"Kakashi, how old is he now?" Minato asked, afraid to hear the answer.

"Twenty-two," Kakashi said. "How…how are you alive?" _Is it the same reason I'm alive? Because Pein revived us?_

"I don't know. I can't move very well, though. It's been a long time since I used my muscles. Where is Naruto? Is he alright?" Minato asked, sitting up. His blonde locks glinted in the sunlight.

"Yeah. Naruto is over there," Kakashi said.

* * *

><p>Kazuki put on his hat suppressed his chakra until it was barely detectable. Kakashi was elsewhere, dealing with something else, so he wasn't guarding the tent. Kazuki's hand reached out to open the tent where his father and brother were but his hand stopped just short of the fabric. His hand shook and he put his arm down, not heeding the offer to come in. Those words were too kind. They were too forgiving. These words would allow him to be so close to the people he'd failed in life and he couldn't take it.<p>

Naruto opened the fabric to look outside to see who had been standing there, only to find that no one was there.

Kazuki had already ran out of the village and Tobi sucked him into a dimension at the gates to spit him out at the Akatsuki base where Sasuke was, still. Kazuki looked disoriented for a moment before his face returned to its normal state.

"What happened?" Tobi asked.

"Pein failed. Namikaze Minato has been revived as a result of Nagato's Rinne Rebirth Jutsu," Kazuki said. "What is next?"

"The Raikage has ordered a Five Kage Summit in the Land of Iron to be in a week. I suspect Minato is in no condition to go, so Danzo will probably go. Just for publicity, he'll probably bring Minato along. If he doesn't, we can just go into Konoha and kill Minato. Also, Zetsu has word that the Five Nations have decided to kill Uchiha Sasuke and the other member involved with taking the Hachibi. I want you two to go to that Summit. I'll be there eventually to declare war on the shinobi world to make them give me the Kyuubi," Tobi exhaled.

With that, Sasuke and Kazuki walked off into the Akatsuki base to prepare to leave. Kazuki changed out of his Akatsuki cloak and slipped on a short-sleeved greyish-blue shirt with black pants. Under the shirt was a fishnet and tied and inside against his sides and back pockets were scrolls, exploding kunai, exploding tags, other slips of paper for sealing, and chakra pills. Also on his side was his sword.

Sasuke stood in the doorway, looking into Kazuki's room.

"You're awfully traditional, aren't you?" Sasuke looked at the kotatsu and andon, lamp. An ink stone and paper and scrolls and multiple brushes were in a small box decorated with awabi, abalone, shell insides and painted sakura petals.

"Here," Kazuki tossed him a scroll.

"What's this?" Sasuke deftly caught it and looked at it.

"It'll reverse summon me to you if you get hurt. I have an iryo-ninjutsu scroll, a few actually, to heal people. It'll heal pretty much anything unless you've lost too much blood and get anemic or something," Kazuki said as he slipped on black standard ninja shoes and took off his scratched Konoha hitai-ate. The two nodded and they departed to the Land of Iron.

**A/N Sorry for the twist…hehe…**


	9. Twist II

Summary: What if Minato and Kushina had two children? What if one of them was Itachi's age and just as skilled? How would it affect the one born under his father's shadow and one under the Kyuubi's shadow? Read to find out.

* * *

><p>The Raikage walked past the blonde, even as he knelt and cried for Uchiha Sasuke. The three Konoha ninja—Yamato, Kakashi, and Naruto—decided to rest at a nearby inn.<p>

At the meeting place of the Five Kage Summit, Kazuki and Sasuke had already snuck in and were waiting to see the arrival of the Hokage and his guards. It seemed as if the Hokage had arrived before them, which was surprising, but not unbelievable; Sasuke and Kazuki had dawdled a bit.

An hour into the Kage meeting, Sasuke had finally had it. His eyes changed into blazing red ones and he jumped at a platoon of samurai. They roared and the fight began. It wasn't necessarily fair since Sasuke could stick on the walls and break ceilings, but in the ninja world, nothing is fair.

Meanwhile, Kazuki focused on locating the Kage. It took ten mintues to do an accurate headcount and assess the chakra levels of everyone there and see if Minato was there or not. Kazuki did a backflip into the battle and killed five samurai at once, snapping the necks of some and making others stab their comrades by tripping a few at the wrong angle. Then he unleashed a scorching hot fire jutsu so hot that the flames turned blue. Once he ended the jutsu, he unfurled a large scroll and allowed burning hot senbon to fly out of the scroll and go through samurai armor and kill them instantly.

"Kazuki, tell me," Sasuke said as he appeared next to Kazuki and a purple skeleton appeared around them. At another time Kazuki would've admired the potential for sealing and blocking the skeleton held, but he had important intel to report.  
>"There are Five Kage and ten guards and three samurai. The Yondaime Hokage and Danzo are with them. I've located them. Let's go," Kazuki said, running to beckon Sasuke. Sasuke smirked and followed the redhead to the meeting room.<p>

The doors burst open to reveal only Kazuki; Sasuke had already attached himself to the ceiling to look at them for a moment before they could attack to take away a valuable opportunity.

"Kazuki, don't do this. Come back to Konoha with me and we'll sort all this out," Minato walked towards him with his hands up and apart in a nonthreatening way.

"Yellow Flash, it isn't a good idea to approach a mentally unstable nuke-nin not even with a kunai in hand. Even if it's your own son, you haven't heard how much damage him and his organization have caused, including taking the Kazekage and nearly killing him. I shouldn't be telling you this though, I'll bet that he's already thought of a hundred ways to kill you already," Tsuchikage chided, a smirk easily visible.

"Make that 110 for the Yondaime Hokage," Kazuki corrected before grabbing Minato in a chokehold, pulling out an exploding kunai, and shoving it into his side. Kazuki jumped back and was unsurprised as his father came out completely unscathed. Kazuki narrowed his eyes, easily seeing what Minato had done: Kawarimi after pulling out the kunai.

Kazuki made sure to keep his body away from Minato's hands; he'd leave a Hiraishin seal, which would be problematic. Kazuki threw Minato out of the room and into a wall hard enough to leave cracks in the wall. Minato hissed a little and stood. _I'm still far from top shape…Kazuki, you've gotten cold. But skilled. I hope I can convince you to come back to Konoha with me. _

Kazuki walked up to his father with a strange grin. He stopped as Minato was pulling out a kunai and threw them across the hallway. Kazuki cursed and jumped into the ceiling to avoid where his father might appear. There were eight strewn across the room, three of which close to him…so a 37% chance of Minato appearing near him. The lowest chance he had was a 12% chance by the end of the corridor. Minato had a relatively good idea of how his son's mind worked, so the one by the corridor went up by 50%. Then again, both of them knew it was the easy way out, so Minato appeared at a kunai with a 32% chance, to which Kazuki jumped into the Kage meeting room and threw himself at the Raikage.

The Raikage smirked and his body exploded with lightning around it. Kazuki weaved many seals for a moment as Sasuke covered him. Kazuki raced again towards the Raikage, only to be stopped by Minato, who caught him roughly and Kazuki found himself on the ground being held down.

"Tell me why you abandoned Konoha," Minato said calmly as he stared into his son's murderous eyes.

Kazuki summoned all his strength and threw his father off him. He grabbed his father's collar and flung him against the ceiling. Minato disappeared and reappeared at one of the kunai he'd left in the corridor.

"Sasuke, Danzo has left," Kazuki said after sensing the area for a moment. His eyes widened as the Raikage punched him in the stomach, causing Kazuki to cough up a significant amount of blood. Kazuki glared as he knelt on his knees. Chakra chains strangled the Raikage and burned his skin and chakra coils. Kazuki pulled out a scroll of the Hachibi's chakra and slammed his hand on it, as his vision was getting fuzzy, and channeled the chakra into the chains to burn, and hopefully kill, the Raikage.

Kazuki stopped, feeling himself begin to pass out. The Raikage, sadly, was still alive, but yelling out in pain. Kazuki felt familiar hands catch him and looked up to see the face of his father.

"Don't touch him," Sasuke growled as the Susano'o became visible again and the top of the building exploded.

"I'm afraid I have more of a right than you do, Uchiha-san," Minato sent Sasuke a glare. Kazuki tried to fight his father's grip but his father easily had him restrained.

"Don't worry, Sasuke, we'll get him back eventually. He's a necessary person in our campaign," Tobi said. Then he declared war on the Kage and left with Sasuke.

"Don't touch me, you filthy coward. You're a worthless piece of shit," Kazuki wheezed out as Minato was taking off Kazuki's shirt and patching him up.

"Don't say that. What would your mother say to that?" Minato asked gently.

"She's dead, thankfully. I hate both of you. I'll kill you sooner than you can tell Naruto I hate him too," Kazuki spat, his mind swimming with agonizing pain. To be honest, he wanted to kill the Raikage more than his father or Naruto. Once the Raikage was dead, next was his father.

"You're lying. Anyone can see that in your eyes," Minato said seriously.

* * *

><p>Kazuki woke up in a dark place. There was no light and from what he could tell, he was lying on something cold and he was restrained not only with ropes, but chakra suppressors. He winced as he felt his stomach begin to scream in pain. The Raikage had nearly killed him, from the looks of it.<p>

"Itachi…" Kazuki whispered. If Itachi was there with him at the Kage Summit, he'd never allowed this to happen.

Itachi wasn't alive, though. Kazuki cursed and felt tears stream out of his eyes. He figured he was in T&I at Konoha. His sobs echoed around the room and it took him a good ten minutes to stop. His blood felt like boiling he was so frustrated.

Some time later, he couldn't tell, a door opened, letting in a burst of light. Kazuki shut his eyes to stop the burning light from reaching his eyes. Kazuki opened his eyes a crack and saw that a light had been turned on above him. He groaned and shut his eyes tighter. A stool loudly scratched on the floor and Kazuki's ears rang.

"I normally would have the T&I staff interrogate you, but I figured I should do it. According to medical reports, you're suffering from TB. I don't know if you knew, but I'd like to know how you contracted it. Also, we caught it early so you're not going to die," a calm voice said.

Kazuki said nothing. He'd been conditioned in the Akatsuki for this kind of this: interrogations. He'd been thrown in boiling water, in frigid temperatures, stabbed over and over, and many other forms of torture to prepare for the worst: a member gets captured. Every member is kept knowing the same information as the rest to make sure there are no mishaps due to lack of information. That, however, can be a problem if a member is captured and interrogated. Kazuki prepared himself for the worst.

"Let's start off with something easy. What is your name?"

Kazuki wasn't going to respond. Ever.

A shock of lightning chakra shot through him. It felt like a mere tickle compared to what he'd known in the Akatsuki to be pure hell.

"What is your name?"

No reponse.

Another shock, this time a bit more concentrated. It was nothing.

"Here, I'll help you out: it's Namikaze Kazuki," the calm voice continued. "But, I knew that. I named you, after all. Next question: how old are you?"

This ridiculous interrogation continued until another person walked in when Minato was asking: "Why did you join the Akatsuki?"

"Nii-chan…is it true?" a voice asked. Kazuki had no intention of answering any question, in any form, from anyone. Unless they revived Itachi.

"Naruto, what're you talking about?" Minato asked.

"The masked guy said that you and Itachi—" Naruto was suddenly cut off.

Kazuki opened his eyes and glared at Naruto so fiercely that Naruto felt like he was burning holes in him.

"If you say another word, I swear I will destroy what left of this disgrace of a village. I should've helped out when Pein attacked; maybe you might be dead. If you were dead, I could finally rest in peace. Maybe I'd finally make my dream a reality: suicide," Kazuki spat, his voice dripping with venom. "And I'm not your brother."

"Kazuki, we all know that's a lie," Minato said.

"Shut up! Both of you! I hate you! Once I get out of here, I'm going to murder you and take the Kyuubi out of both of you! Maybe then your wife and mother will spend her lonely days in the afterlife with people who actually want to be with a worthless woman like that," Kazuki said.

_Slap._

Kazuki froze for a moment, slowly looking at his father. "You…"

"I…I didn't mean to I just…"

Kazuki exhaled loudly and closed his eyes. It was enough. "Take these seals off me."

"I can't…"

"Minato, I'll answer your questions if you take the seals off me. For every question, you are to take off a seal. There are thirty seals on me, which I suppose is the exact number of questions. Am I wrong?" Kazuki's eyes glinted with knowing.

"You're right," Minato let out a smile. "You're just as sharp as I remember."

"Why did you join the Akatsuki?" "How did you contract TB?" "Why did you leave Konoha?" "Why did you team up with Uchiha Itachi to kill his clan?" "Why do you insist on denouncing your familial ties with your two remaining family members?"

And etc.

Every single answer Kazuki told was a lie. In the Akatsuki he'd gotten very good at lying and not even Itachi could tell half the time if he was lying. However, Itachi knew pretty much every answer to every question he'd asked when he was alive, so it was pointless to really ask, but just in terms of how believable Kazuki was astonishing.

"I see," Minato said, beyond saddened. "You've fallen…"

"You have no right to say I've fallen or not. I chose this life and the moment my blade sunk into the Uchiha, there was no turning back. With this path, I've become more powerful than you, Yellow Flash," Kazuki said as he broke out of his restraints and stretched. "Now, I'm going to go look for my possessions."

"There is one more question. It isn't on the paper, but if you want your things, you have to answer me, truthfully. Did you do everything you've done for your own sake or for Naruto's sake, for Konoha's sake, and for the world's sake, as if you wanted forgiveness from me and your mother?" Minato asked, his eyes trained on Kazuki. Kazuki turned and ran a hand through his hair. There was a heavy pause.

"You don't have to answer with Naruto in the room," Minato offered. "As your father, I'm sorry I died and left you that day and I'm sorry I couldn't be there for you, but I need to know. Please, Kazuki."

"Naruto, I don't know what Madara told you, but whatever he told you is a lie. Itachi and I abandoned the village because we were sick of what we saw. You and Sasuke were failures the moment you took your first breath, your first step, and your first jutsu attempt. This village is rotten and as people who consider yourselves loyal to something like this, is something that sickens both me and Itachi. That's why I left," Kazuki said. Kazuki grabbed his shirt from Minato and slipped it on, not minding the large bloodstain.

"Kazuki…I love you," Minato said, a tear rolling down his cheek. "On the camera, I saw you cried for Itachi. If you cared for him, then doesn't that make your whole interrogation a lie?"

"You're pulling at straws now," Kazuki said. "Hokage, if you don't want me to explode your body from the inside out—"

"You have that scroll! You took it!" Minato realized. "Those jutsu are forbidden!"

"And yet, you used a jutsu from that scroll on your darling son. How interesting."

"If I didn't, then you would've died! Your mother's seal wasn't going to hold much longer," Minato argued.

"I can use the same seal she had. Would you like for me to demonstrate? I'd absolutely love to demonstrate," Kazuki smirked as he walked out.

"You can use chakra chains? I thought that was just a fluke at the Summit," Minato said.

"Minato, nine years ago I spared Naruto's life on a whim using those chains. Not then, and not now, is he worth killing," Kazuki said as his footsteps disappeared into the hallway.

"Does that mean you didn't want to kill me?! Does that mean you actually care?!" Naruto ran after him. Kazuki whirled around and had him in a chokehold. Minato ripped the two apart and tried to slap Kazuki again. Kazuki chuckled and let out his signature fire style jutsu that nearly burned the two if Minato hadn't grabbed Naruto and dove into the interrogation room. Kazuki sealed the door and walked away, knowing that it would only temporarily stop Minato from moving. Minato would probably appear at the gates before he could get out of the village, but that wasn't much of a problem.

Still, the fact he wasn't tortured or harmed at all was a surprise. In fact, it worried Kazuki. Why hadn't Konoha tried to get more information out of him? Was Minato really that desperate to have a son he knew (well, he'd only known Naruto for a few days now compared to the six years Kazuki had)? It made Kazuki nervous. Was there some kind of trap? Was everything right now a genjutsu?

He shook his head and found his things in another room. He found someone else's shirt there and slipped it on.

"I found you," a feminine voice said. Kazuki strapped his scrolls and kunai holsters on his person and turned around, genuinely unsurprised she'd been revived as well.

Kazuki looked at the woman with apathy and walked past her. She made a sound that probably signaled she didn't like it when he dismissed her existence. Kazuki couldn't care.

"Why are you down in T&I? I heard someone with the same name as you was a nuke-nin, but I know you wouldn't do that. I know you promised me to protect your brother. Where is Naruto?" a redhead woman asked. Her hair and Kazuki's hair was the same color.

"He's in my cell. With the coward," Kazuki said bluntly, walking away. Her footsteps ran up to him and she walked with him.

"Coward?"

"The Yellow Flash," Kazuki said, stopping, extremely annoyed. Honestly, why couldn't she have stayed dead? With her alive, his suicide plans were screwed!

"Ah, your father! Why couldn't you have said that? Wait…cell? Why are you in T&I? Did you become an interrogator? I bet you're great at that," Kushina gushed.

"Kushina, I am not your son. I am Namikaze Kazuki, nuke-nin of Konoha. Nine years ago, Uchiha Itachi and I slaughtered the Uchiha clan. From then on, we were nuke-nin. Your real family is down that hallway at the end. Go, before I change my mind about killing you," Kazuki said, pushing her away and walked away.

"You're lying!"

"That's what everybody says. Then, I kill them. It's a messy way of getting my point across, but you've got to do what you've got to do," Kazuki waved has wrist to emphasize this.

"Stop!" Kushina's chakra chains flew at him, only for his to make a protective barrier around him.

"Don't bother," Kazuki's eyes turned dark. "Don't make me regret leaving you alive today."

Kushina stood in shock. She raced towards him with a fire style jutsu. It was a rather weak one. Kazuki let his chakra chains wrap around her and burn her chakra until she screamed so loudly that it echoed hopefully to the inside of the cell.

"Kushina! Kazuki!" Minato's eyes turned murderous. Kazuki let her go and she was unconscious before she hit the floor. Naruto looked at Kazuki and his mother in shock before charging at Kazuki with multiple shadow clones and a Rasengan.

Kazuki yawned and leaned against the wall as he activated a seal around himself.

"Is that it?" Kazuki asked. "I really have to go. You know, prepare for war."

"Kazuki, why… that was your mother. You promised her and me that you'd protect Naruto and the village. Why haven't you done that?" Minato asked.

"Minato, ask Kakashi. He's understood for a while that Itachi and I aren't his subordinates. Get your head around the fact I'm not your son and then you'll be fine," Kazuki said.

"I can't. For six years, I cared for you and you smiled everyday. I can't let go of those memories. Those memories of you are what kept me going in the Third Shinobi World War. That's why I can't let you go into evil more than you have now," Minato said.

"Nii-chan, I know everything about you. You lied to me to protect Konoha! You lied to protect me! You've done everything up till now to follow Tou-chan and Kaa-chan's last wishes! Why can't you just stop now and come back? You've done more than enough," Naruto said. "But…why didn't you tell me anything? Is it because you didn't have the courage?!"

"You three are worthless. As if I'd help worthless people like you three," Kazuki said as Tobi finally came and sucked him away.

Naruto began to cry and Minato pursed his lips as he picked up Kushina's limp body.

**A/N Kushina and Minato are one of my favorite couples:) If you combine that with the fact I stretch things too far in almost anything I write, this is what you get. Sorry if it's not all that believable but oh well. It is fan fiction after all.**


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